Back in Feb. common knowledge among Taiwanese people: N95 masks are effective against COVID, restricted to clinical needs; surgical masks are effective against infection to a certain extent by absorbing virus particles with static electricity; cloth masks only prevent spreading.

Hospitals stockpiled N95 for months of usage. Government seized all N95 in the market and control surgical mask production, ramping it up significantly. Nobody wants cloth masks, so surgical mask purchases are limited per person by ID checks to make sure EVERYONE can have some.

Masks are required in public areas. Nobody even dare to not wear a mask due to fear of death. Those traveling abroad who eventually became new COVID cases were publicly shamed online.

Taiwan has ZERO domestic infections for about 2.5 months.

Seeing people refusing to wear masks in the US is actually quite eye opening to me. Because back in Taiwan the issue is always "not enough surgical masks", and never "why would I need to wear a mask".