Good one

Science is looking at data. Policy is making decisions. Anytime somebody says a policy is science, they lie. It’s merely a choice, and they could have chosen a different policy, none of which impacts the underlying science.

Exactly. That's what happens when health is a provincial/territorial responsibility. Pro business governments implement the science suggestions one way, pro society governments implement them another.

The science is pretty consistent.

Fuck me, it is still science. Different geographies have different healthcare, different demographics, etc. which may have different interactions with disease, economic policy, etc.

Here's a nice phrase to research: intuition pump. DoggyDawg, resident smooth-brain, used his intuition to attempt understanding, but failed to think deeper.