Regarding fomite trransmission: You are correct that they did not know the answer to this immediately after the outbreak....but they knew VERY soon - within several weeks. But the thing you need to understand about fomites is that if COVID was indeed spread by fomites, then masks would have been even less effective since we all would have been getting exposed from touching objects. Regardless, we knew the answer to this a year and a half before our entire country was allowed to unmask (and even now, some Californian schools persist in the voodoo mask practice).
Regarding aerosols and droplets, this was also known LONG before they allowed us to unmask. Further, much of it could be safely assumed simply from the 3um size of the virus. Allowing the fairy tale of homemade cotton mask use by the general public - and forcing it - is unacceptable.
Either way, these bastards had all of the information long before they relaxed restricitions.