On the bright side, the practice we've (hopefully) had with masks, hand washing, and personal space should hopefully carry over to flu seasons in the future. If it does get severe, then we know what to do.

Whether we do it, though, is another question altogether.

Yeah, I wouldn't count on people actually doing it, either. Especially when a large segment of the population is convinced that mask mandates are a form of tyranny.

For obvious reasons, you're not going to see mask mandates for flu season. It's simply not contagious enough. I think there will be more social pressure to wear masks when you're not feeling well and an increased acceptance of staying home when sick though.

Sure, but do you really think people who won't wear a mask when it's literally against the law not to will wear one voluntarily?

I think it'll be more a matter of "I don't want to get sick and I'm your manager, so {put on a mask,stay at home until you're no longer sick} or stay at home forever".

This is indeed how it works for the healthcare industry; when I was doing hospital IT, my choices during flu season were either 1) vaccinate, 2) wear a mask, or 3) find a new line of work. I picked the first one.

My guess is that next year's flu season is cancelled too. It doesn't take much to push the R from slightly above 1 to slightly below 1.

Just putting a mask on half the symptomatic infected people (or even better, getting them to stay at home) would probably do the trick.

Also, the flu has to start from a very low level. Might miss this flu season completely.