Lockdowns and masks worked in Asia since forever. They have been fighting outbreaks successfully in the past two decades. They worked for covid too. They 'did not work' in the US because certain circles wanted people to go back outside as fast as possible to bail out the sinking service sector and the stock market.
This is without delving into the fact that the lockdowns' main objective was to prevent healthcare systems from choking. Spain had much more luck than any other European country since it has a high volume of trade with China and also had a left-wing government at the time, prompting and allowing China to come and set up a field hospital too boost hospital capacity in Madrid etc. But still, without lockdowns there was great risk as can be seen from what happened to the likes of the UK...
This is without delving into the fact that the lockdowns' main objective was to prevent healthcare systems from choking. Spain had much more luck than any other European country since it has a high volume of trade with China and also had a left-wing government at the time, prompting and allowing China to come and set up a field hospital too boost hospital capacity in Madrid etc. But still, without lockdowns there was great risk as can be seen from what happened to the likes of the UK...