The pro-COVID crowd has a difficult time separating things health officials have said two years ago with more up to date things they are saying today. That’s probably why they claim that the communication about masks is “confusing” as they think that something said by Fauci in February of 2020 is still nogeya despite him having explicitly retracted in multiple times.
The valve mask thing was said in mid-2020. I believe it was retracted later that year. So if you’re wearing an N95 or KN95 mask, it’s fine if there’s a valve on it. However, valved masks are more expensive to manufacture so you don’t see them often (or at all).