The Hong Kong flu epidemic in 1968-1969 was killing roughly as many people as the CCP Virus and there was no talk whatsoever of masks, social distancing, vaccines, staying home, altering the 1968 election, or anything else.
There was even a rather large, multi-day concert in the summer of 1969 in the midst of it all.
There’s not even any real evidence that masks have any effect on the spread of the virus.