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Yeah it's a lot easier if you are an island, go into super strict lock-down, and can do super-efficient (and privacy invasive) contact tracing before the number of infections even goes over 1 in 100K, like in the countries you mentioned. ..

That doesn't contradict anything I said though, I was only commenting on the US situation and whether it could have been contained by 'just wearing masks'.

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To all intents and purposes, the USA are an island. They have just two land borders with neighbours they have somewhat acceptable relations with.

I think the real issue they have is the unwillingness to cooperate with the other two measures: lockdowns (clashes with "freedom", at least temporarily) to reduce the number of cases to a range where they can be contact traced and then to allow contact tracing (I would guess this is because of a lack of trust in the government) to actually find people that might become infectious before they actually do.

BTW "Just wearing masks" is not the solution but part of it.

Few think wearing masks alone could contain the virus.

(Be wary of inventing quotes to make your argument.)

It’s just the simplest, easiest thing most people can do that is effective. A no-brainer first step that slows down the spread, and consequently saves lives and/or lessens the need for harsher measures, like lockdowns.

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