Well, when you have government propaganda, in league with both the legacy and social media, constantly harping that masks work, even though the real-world evidence for it is incredibly weak, you will have a hard time deprogramming that message.
Let's remember how this whole mask mandate started. As Europe and NYC were starting to see the big outbreaks that inspired all those lockdowns, you weren't seeing those huge outbreaks in South Korea, Singapore, or really anywhere at all in the Eastern Hemisphere, even though in most cases (except Australia and New Zealand) they weren't imposing the harsh lockdowns they were in the West. (At the time, the outbreaks weren't happening in much of the U.S., either. But nobody really mentions that.) Some people noted that Asian cultures tend to wear masks when they are out and about and sick, so they assumed that the masks were why they were handling things better.
They did some tests. A few areas put in mask mandates and they noted that infection rates went down after they were imposed. And so the mask mandate ended up the way it was going to fix everything and allow us to resume function.
It didn't work out that way. It turned out the drop in transmission was driven by seasonal changes and the correlation between mask mandates and infection rates disappeared when they weren't imposed in April. City-by-city comparisons only showed very weak correlations that were overwhelmed by other environmental factors. Even in the fall when infection rates shot up again, even when South Korea saw substantial outbreaks and nearly lost control, the myth persisted.
I do worry about this coming fall. Even with the vaccine, the infection numbers where I live are coming down slower than last year, and are persistently higher than last year when they were practically nonexistent most of the summer. Obviously locking down again is not an option, but if the vaccine fails, they could try an even harder, longer lockdown and not let up until they reach zero (the New Zealand option).
