I always wonder about the sanitation factor. Most schools these days don’t allow parents to bring home baked goods to school for parties and bake sales because they were not made in a kitchen approved by the local health department. But when people are bringing their bags from homes that may not have been stored in sanitary conditions, and these bags are placed on the store checkout surfaces, what dirt, germs, fecal matter, diseases, whatever, could be transferred to food in the process?
Your concerns are well founded. This has already been found to be true. The whole thing with plastic bags is something invented by leftists. It all started when they demanded that we use plastic instead of paper. Now plastic is evil as well.
Everything leftists touch turns to crap. There are no exceptions to this rule that I'm aware of.
It's definitely an issue. Lots of studies have found that resusable bags are contaminated with bacteria, norovirus, etc.
My county has a tax on bags. I'm not sure how much plastic the ban saves. I used to use the plastic bags from stores as trash bags. That plastic was so flimsy that after a couple of days in the sun it would disintegrate. Now I buy plastic trash bags that are much thicker.