I think the situation in most areas is that mask wearing indoors while shopping is mandatory, but that it is also not enforced. Our society would like it to be true that all Americans would always "do the right thing" without being coerced. Our political class is so completely afraid of actually forcing people to follow a given standard of behavior that they basically won't do it.
The problem is that "the right thing" is not universally agreed upon and never will be. In order to have a society where individuals have the maximum freedom possible, we all have agreed to surrender some freedom to our government. In some cases, a plan has to be adopted and followed in order to protect society. We all stop at red lights. Nothing particularly significant about red, but we have traffic laws so we don't kill each other. Mask regulations are similar. The exact benefits of mask wearing have not yet been quantified. However, the plan is to wear them.
Unfortunately, there will always be people who just don't want to follow the agreed upon plan. Those people forget that they gave their government the power to require and enforce certain behavior when necessary subject to the existing laws. Equally unfortunately, our government at all levels has forgotten (or ignored) their responsibility to require and enforce that behavior. As a result, we are unable to govern ourselves in many situations. Social media merely provides a venue for people to pretend they are not subject to the laws. Our leaders chose not to disabuse them of that notion.
The problem is that "the right thing" is not universally agreed upon and never will be. In order to have a society where individuals have the maximum freedom possible, we all have agreed to surrender some freedom to our government. In some cases, a plan has to be adopted and followed in order to protect society. We all stop at red lights. Nothing particularly significant about red, but we have traffic laws so we don't kill each other. Mask regulations are similar. The exact benefits of mask wearing have not yet been quantified. However, the plan is to wear them.
Unfortunately, there will always be people who just don't want to follow the agreed upon plan. Those people forget that they gave their government the power to require and enforce certain behavior when necessary subject to the existing laws. Equally unfortunately, our government at all levels has forgotten (or ignored) their responsibility to require and enforce that behavior. As a result, we are unable to govern ourselves in many situations. Social media merely provides a venue for people to pretend they are not subject to the laws. Our leaders chose not to disabuse them of that notion.