1. There was a serious and highly infectious virus circulating. However this is no longer true hence the rest of society having moved on.
2. The asthma analogy is irrelevant.
3. Societies in east Asia wear masks when they're sick; to prevent the spread of illness. Somewhere along the way this narrative has changed to it being a magic invincibility cloak and credited to Asian society, which it never was.
Many people, most of whom I assume have never been to Asia, made up this narrative that people in Japan, for example, routinely wore masks day-to-day pre-pandemic. That simply isn't true and I could show you any number of photographs. Yes, it wasn't unheard of when people were sick but the idea that the average Japanese commuter was wearing a mask in 2019 is simply untrue.
Complete strawman, I never claimed everybody in Japan wore masks daily and that's an argument I've never even seen made. I live in an area with a dominate Asian culture and have visited numerous eastern asian countries.
3. Would it surprise you to hear that people are still wearing face masks for that same reason? Your "magic invincibility cloak" is a strawman argument that nobody has ever made.
2. The asthma analogy is irrelevant.
3. Societies in east Asia wear masks when they're sick; to prevent the spread of illness. Somewhere along the way this narrative has changed to it being a magic invincibility cloak and credited to Asian society, which it never was.