I can see the skeptics' point that it's far less common sense that just any old rag over your face will do. I don't think it's a binary. "All we can do" doesn't make it a natural candidate for being mandatory. Unless we have some standards around masks that make good sense, mandating the wearing anything that passes as a "mask" doesn't make sense. Like I said, it's just a box that gets checked. My wife bought a mask made of moisture wicking material that's nearly see through. I doubt that's gonna work. But it'll check the box. And it's easier to breath through. So that's a plus now that they're mandatory.
One thing I do agree on, we would probably have been better off if they'd have just required the checkbox instead of shutting things down. But back then the CDC was too busy being wrong about how the virus spreads, and telling the prepper types that they shouldn't e buying the masks, because they don't work. It's surfaces. Now it's droplets. Hopefully the evolution in the theory of spread has evolved closer to reality. But when we have health officials caring more about their precious greater good than just telling people the truth, who knows?
