Science is only one piece of the puzzle. Ultimately it's a political game, so science is only part of the equation. Masks are to signal that I care about you, and to make you feel safe. Bullshit of course, but it's way to hard to make people understand that they are overestimating the risk of death and hospitalization by factors of 10x and 20x. Much easier to not correct the record and pretend masks reduce the risk 10-20x.
Back to basics: The government doesn't care about you. Any interventions are likely to sacrifice long term success for short term success.
Back to basics: The government doesn't care about you. Any interventions are likely to sacrifice long term success for short term success.