While protecting the supply of masks may have been part of the point, the CDC also believed (along with much of the medical community) that masks did little aga

While protecting the supply of masks may have been part of the point, the CDC also believed (along with much of the medical community) that masks did little against viruses because of old research. It took quite a bit of scientific discussion and bickering for them to revise that opinion. I largely agree with the rest of your points - particularly the outcome we have found ourselves in. Barring the emergence of some horrific new variant (Imagine Omicron with 10x the fatality rate), this is just another bug we can no longer avoid without effectively destroying our existing society - time to move on and live with it.