Best policy/strategy isn't necessarily the same for every possible place in a country. It is not easy to compare numbers for different places and judge strategi

Best policy/strategy isn't necessarily the same for every possible place in a country. It is not easy to compare numbers for different places and judge strategies absolutely, when observed differences between counties or larger areas are this low. Also, it's not just the question of whether masks are effective, it's also the question whether enforcing them is warranted. Arresting infectious people and sending them to isolation would also be "effective", but that's not something that civil society principles are compatible with. It's perfectly possible that masks are effective, yet the negatives of enforcing them are so big that people in charge decide to not do that.