[legitster]

I think the thing with the N95 masks is they could stay moist all day from your breath's condensation. Covid was very dependent on moisture to spread, and much of the evidence about surface contact implied that the surface was dry or dried out between contacts.

Though to your point it was probably a lower risk than what might have been implied.

[cameldrv]

To my knowledge there's never been a case of COVID conclusively proven to have resulted from surface contact.

[aredox]

Exactly. And this absence has never been as debated as masks, showing the huge biases in the public debate around the means to control the epidemic.