Why do you think that suggesting to wear a mask during a global pandemic was "all theater"?
If you had to go into an ebola ward, and someone handed you a mask, would you really refuse to wear it?
If you had to go into an ebola ward, and someone handed you a mask, would you really refuse to wear it?
If masking was truly primarily about stopping the spread of a highly contagious airborne virus, why were the rules designed and applied to allow people to spend so much time in confined spaces unmasked?
The proposition was "wearing a mask is all theater", but your comment is explaining how not wearing a mask in particular situations was theater.
Wearing the mask is not theater, it's an effective mitigation.
Taking the mask off in an enclosed space and pretending you're safe is the theater part, but that isn't what OP was talking about.
My decision about ebola would be based on whether masks are effective or not. I haven't researched the topic.
If you refused to wear the mask, the very serious and educated people at the door of the ebola ward would likely refuse you entry to the ebola ward, which is probably all for the better anyway.