Anecdotal evidence is no evidence at all. There was a flu season, it was just mixed in with Covid. It was lower than usual but that's because of the shutdown and social distancing. Had nothing to do with the masks. Masks were extensively tested when SARS was a threat. N95 masks were shown to be the absolute minimum for any type of effectiveness and that was only if they were worn properly. Cloth masks have zero effect of stopping the virus. What should have been done and what would have worked just as well or even better is only those who had symptoms of any type wear a mask, or better yet, stay home. Cloth masks do have the benefit of stopping large water droplets which can reduce the spread.

But here in the states, they were afraid that people wearing masked would be ostracized and we just can't have that. Everyone has to be the same.

I managed to get a cold in the middle of the complete shutdown, minimum store visits and mask wearing. Had three actually over the main phase of the pandemic. I have a fourth now. There are over 200 causes of the common cold and four of them are corona viruses which could be causing false positives in many people.
Information
Warning: This is a relatively older thread
This discussion is older than 360 days. Some information contained in it may no longer be current.