One of the hardest things to communicate about science is not precise numbers but the frequent LACK of precise numbers. People want to be told, "If you do this, this will happen." People want certainty. But most of the time, we can't have that, because it just doesn't exist.
I've seen a dozen memes that include "transmission probabilities" for different combinations of "mask/no mask." They're all made up. Because we don't have those numbers. It depends on things like type of mask, type of contact, distance, environment, time... & studies are ongoing.
It's not that nothing is known. There's a lot that we can say with pretty good certainty, such as: on a population level, you're at much greater risk indoors in a crowd with no masks than outdoors masked and distanced (and various combinations of those things).
I don't know what the solution is. When people say "Tell us what the risks are exactly" and the answer is "That's complicated and we're still figuring it out but here are some general guidelines that might help...," it's hard not to lose people at "complicated." 😕
