> "The fact that masks aren't mandatory in public in the US is honestly unbelievable to me"

I'm glad you don't run things here. We have a constitutional republic that makes it impossible for the federal government to unilaterally mandate such things as masks and vaccines. Biden tried to mandate vaccines through OSHA but the Supreme Court determined that was an overreach.

What kind of masks? Cloth masks are proven to be worthless and only well fitting N95 masks may help prevent infection.

I think what's going to happen is COVID will be less and less damaging as time goes on (like all novel diseases) and we will go on to live our lives as free people.