Mask-time and infection severity

As the mask trend continues and people are venturing out into the economy for longer spans of time while masked, the number of people who get infected and gestate their infection by re-breathing exhaled air is going to increase.

As such, it would make sense to collect data from people with infections how much time they spent masked during the gestation period before their symptoms began.

We need to know whether wearing a mask after contracting the virus ultimately causes a worse infection or whether people who are not wearing masks or wearing them very little are coming down with equally severe infections as those who do wear masks.

This is a difficult question to answer because:
1) people with light infections may not report them or even know they had the virus
2) people who come down with a heavier infection may do so because of other factors besides spending time breathing into a mask; or in addition to spending time breathing into a mask.

Can you think of other factors that could influence the gestation of a viral infection prior to the appearance of symptoms?

Do you think there is a way to wear a mask that allows for more fresh-air intake instead of rebreathing infected air? E.g. if you limit mask-breathing to, say, five or two or one minute at a time and then spend a minute breathing fresh air away from other people, could that be sufficient to prevent the infection from growing more rapidly in your throat and lung tissues due to re-breathed air?