Given the number of masks that are either absent completely, or worn stylishly as chinstraps by plenty of people on public transport at the moment, I don't hold out much hope.
But it would interesting to see whether, and if so, how much, incidence of colds, flu, and other respiratory viruses changed if:
- mask wearing on public transport became the norm and...
- 'presenteeism' culture became a thing of the past, whereby people stagger into work no matter how sick they are and how much they're spewing viruses around the offices.
I wouldn't be surprised if these measures actually made quite a significant difference.
I've had a couple of really bad chest infections in recent years, usually around January. Having had what I'm pretty sure was Covid, which has left me with some long term odd side effects that I can only describe as occasional slight asthma, I'm dreading catching the next one if I've got a bit of long term bronchial damage. It is getting better very slowly, and it doesn't need medication, but sometimes it's not nice.
I'd be very happy with a modest culture change when it comes to the gratuitous spreading of germs.