So, I just got back last night from a two-day road trip to a red state. The first day was spent in a large, sprawling city and the second day was spent in a rural, but somewhat touristy area.
In the city, I was on a mission to visit four used bookstores (in the same chain) that were scattered around the city. Surprisingly, there were two different sets of store policies regarding COVID, despite being the same chain. Two stores said they were following the CDC policies and recommended mask wearing and the other two stores were mandating mask wearing, saying you couldn't go in without wearing one . You could actually feel the fear in the air there, which was strange to me, as the area where I live has a "live and let live" attitude towards the mask -- mask-wearing is a personal choice and no one cares what you do or don't do. I've heard about people double-masking, but in this city I saw multiple people double-masked...outside even! I felt very ill-at-ease in this city -- like I was in the middle of a zombie movie. I was really glad to get out of there.
Went to the rural area, which was around two hours away from the city, and it was the complete and total opposite. No one (except the occasional dumb tourist) was wearing a mask -- not the staff at the hotel, not the cashiers or store clerks, not the people working in restaurants, and not even the vast majority of the people that were there to enjoy the area. It was business as usual, like the pandemic had never existed. The contrast could not have been more stark.
I don't know why there was such a contrast. My guess is that the city has more liberals and the rural areas have more based conservatives. Either that, or the country folk are just too busy working for a living to have any time to be brainwashed by the MSM.
Personal observation from a DEEP blue state with majority being either a gov employee or on LOTS of gov assistance (dependency)...If you go into a retail establishment, nearly 85-100% mask compliance BUT no one tells you diddly if you (me and my wife, for example) goes in without a mask - I originally told them "not wearing under advisement by a medical care provider" if they asked but now nobody asks so I don't have to go with that exclusion. I go into restaurants and see nobody but the employees wearing and they don't say anything, even though they have signs on doors saying "masks required". You would have no clue that we're in a "pandemic" if not for the signs and the occasional dumbass Branch Covidian that puts their mask on to enter or leave the business after spending 2 hours with their mask off while sitting down at their table in a packed restaurant. I interact with customers in both indoor and outdoor settings and maybe 10% are wearing a mask when THEY approach ME and none of them say a thing about me not wearing one. In short, even the ones wearing the masks won't let their irrational fear stand in the way of them doing business with me - and I will be the first to admit that my product is the most non-essential thing you can spend your money on. My business is booming so I don;t think the lack of confrontation from customers is because anyone is avoiding me because I'm not a mask-hole either.