Arse covering is as good ulterior motive as any, something anyone who’s dealt with large organisations of any sort will attest to. I’d argue the reason governm

Arse covering is as good ulterior motive as any, something anyone who’s dealt with large organisations of any sort will attest to. I’d argue the reason governments obsess over marginally effective at best measures like masks is that they give society the opportunity to wag their fingers and exercise the usual moral authoritarianism at their neighbours instead of blaming the politicians for their various inadequacies throughout the pandemic (including in the UK’s case running the NHS into the ground with cuts a decade before in their usual miserly short-sightedness).