[Goose]

They each opted for a few months of near universal mask wearing and now are benefiting economically while others flounder.
We opted for the easier mask-free path supported by trillions of dollars in debt and a quarter of a million deaths.

I think it is a seriously misleading assertion that the only (or even the main) difference between the responses in Korea, Vietnam, etc. and the USA was "a few months of mask wearing". These nations did (and are still doing) much, much more than that. In particular, they have significant and effective contact tracking/tracing operation and they ENFORCE the quarantine/isolation requirements. That is IMHO much more significant than masks. It simply isn't even remotely true that the USA would have a similar case load as these countries if we just wore masks and still retained all the other unsafe behaviors. Yes, masks help, but they are nowhere near a silver bullet. Getting sick people out of the population is what has worked for these nations. They can do that because people are complying with ALL the regulations/suggestions (social distancing, cooperation with contact tracing, quarantine and isolation when ordered, and yes, masks).

[Goose]

They each opted for a few months of near universal mask wearing and now are benefiting economically while others flounder.
We opted for the easier mask-free path supported by trillions of dollars in debt and a quarter of a million deaths.

I think it is a seriously misleading assertion that the only (or even the main) difference between the responses in Korea, Vietnam, etc. and the USA was "a few months of mask wearing". These nations did (and are still doing) much, much more than that. In particular, they have significant and effective contact tracking/tracing operation and they ENFORCE the quarantine/isolation requirements. That is IMHO much more significant than masks. It simply isn't even remotely true that the USA would have a similar case load as these countries if we just wore masks and still retained all the other unsafe behaviors. Yes, masks help, but they are nowhere near a silver bullet. Getting sick people out of the population is what has worked for these nations. They can do that because people are complying with ALL the regulations/suggestions (social distancing, cooperation with contact tracing, quarantine and isolation when ordered, and yes, masks).