The point is, at worst, there was no significant difference. The data is freely available, it doesn't lie. The argument was never "masks worn correctly and of the correct type don't work." The argument is that mandating masks doesn't work. And you can compare data from the state level down to the local level and there is absolutely nothing to suggest mandates had any positive effect on the pandemic.
Good mask education and being optional was always the correct course. Unfortunately, we took the route that qualified any piece of cloth as a 'mask' and lead vulnerable people to believe they were 'protected' in virtually every setting.
And to this day we still continue to peddle that nonsense suggesting that an unvaccinated person with a cloth mask is as protected as a vaccinated person without; some actually believe the former is safer.