A cloth mask is not PPE. OSHA decides what is and what is not PPE, and an uncertified made at home mask does not meet the legal definition of PPE. If you showed up to a construction worksite which required a respirator and all you brought was a cloth mask made from a bandanna, you'd be thrown off the site.
The R not rate is not going to drop long-term below 1 as long as people are infectible. Right now the projections show that at our current track by March 450,000 people will be dead. If we had 100% compliance with mask wearing 100% of the time, we would have 340,000 deaths. Put another way, even with everyone wearing masks, 340k people would still be dead. That's a reduction of like 30% over what we have with our currently mixed usage. That's good, but not exactly a god send. If masks were truly that effective and legitimately really PPE, then there would be few additional deaths. I bet if everyone wore full, legit PPE including N-99 masks properly fitted, a face shield and a full body chemical suit, deaths would probably drop 100k even lower--just proving that cloth masks are not real PPE. They are band aid in a desperate situation. They help the situation, but you absolutely can still die even if you wear a cloth mask. A vaccine goes far, far beyond that. A vaccine will drastically reduce your chances of death well beyond what even legit PPE can offer.