What gives? Is this a local thing, or is it widespread?
Both, neither, and a bunch of other stuff. Even regionally you can see wide variation. Some current stuff that i have experienced:
My small town is still doing the same as when this started a year ago. Practically no one ever wears masks, everyone goes on about their business, people shake hands when they meet, etc. No die outs of the population, including the elderly.
I'm taking a "farming for dummies" class at the university extension. The first night, because the syllabus said "masks required", we all showed up in them. Then someone asked what their enforcement deal was. The instructors said they just have to tell people, but they can't force anyone to wear one. Every single person in the class took off their mask, and we are a packed class. Certainly if this was a day class at the university itself versus an extension classroom, I suspect there would have been enforcement. Around half the class announced they had already tested positive for the virus.
Just so I don't come off as anti-mask biased, last night in class the substitute instructor said that the regular instructor would be off for a couple of weeks because she had just had a miscarriage. Her second one in a year. Correlation is not causation, but some might argue the possibility of the instructor having asymptomatic covid that affected the baby. Though that seems to potentially apply to only one miscarriage if there is any kind of months long immunity after catching the virus.
Lastly, Costco is one of the few places in the region (outside of Boise, where the mayor has a mask mandate) that is militant about people wearing masks when they enter. Everyone inside seems to keep them on, though there is zero social distancing in the store, and none is enforced. Except, as I found out last week, in the optics shop.
I went there to get new reading glasses. I had to stay socially distanced on the little circle until it was my turn. Then they took my temperature. Then I got to go behind the roped area. Then I had to be supervised to look at frames. Each time I tried a frame, it was then taken and put in a "disinfecting bucket". It was a total pain, especially given that every time I tried a pair of glasses on, they fogged up and I couldn't see a thing. I was told sorry, but we can't let you remove the mask to try the glasses on (please explain restaurant dining then). I ended up holding my breath for as long as I was trying on each pair of glasses. I feel sorry for any elderly people that can't hold their breath trying to find new glasses.
Anyway, simply no rhyme or reason or standardization to anything anywhere.