It seems like we're both right. Initial dispersion is with water droplets, but the water can evaporate and leave the virus to disperse through the air on its own.

https://www.tmc.edu/news/2020/07/can-the-coronavirus-spread-through-the-air/#:~:text=Once%20the%20aerosols%20are%20airborne,an%20extended%20period%20of%20time.

So a mask will help protect people if the virus is still airborne via droplets (however there's no way for us to observe this outside of a lab,) which will increase the amount of viral load required to infect a person. I'm curious if a mask with enough condensation from exhalation would be still more effective.