Consider NYC, which had mask mandates through till about mid June. Talking with people back in April, I remarked how almost everywhere had dropped their mask mandates to people. All -- and I mean _all_ -- were shocked: here in the city, you still had to wear them in the office, in businesses, bars & restaurants, all complete with occupancy requirements. The occupancy requirement of 50% were not dropped until the mask mandate was dropped. Hell, even across the Hudson River in New Jersey they didn't have those occupancy requirements for as long as we did.
And that's just local to the United States.
Consider how Colombians rioted in Medellin when the government attempted to impose another lockdown. The government gave up. Was this ever reported on?
Or consider how the Philipinnes are pushing for another lockdown atm. Is this common knowledge?
Or consider how Canada still has major restrictions. Cities like Toronto had police knocking on the doors of businesses as late as June (may be still on?) ensuring that people weren't gathering "illegally." Is this common knowledge?
Or consider how Australia is on a fifth lockdown where their prime minister said "vaccines alone will not end Australia's lockdown." [1]
Or consider how India's delta variant case explosion came down approximately two weeks after it peaked. Sharply and with very low vaccination rates. Is this common knowledge?
In somewhat lighter news, consider how other countries tackled issues relating to masks. Lithuania never required them for school children as one example.
The world is incredibly polarized but also increasingly parochial, at least anecdotally. People are extrapolating their local circumstances and assuming elsewhere must be similar or in worse shape, that these restrictions must be meaningful.
[1] Source: https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/australia-pm-says-vaccinatio...