On the Fact that if Masks Were Effective at Retarding the Spread of Viruses, Why Hasn't the Government Been Pushing Their Use During Influenza Season for the Past 50 Years or so?

Becausuuuuuuuuuuuuuse Donald Trump wasn't President back then and so we didn't need to keep the country at maximum red-line stress........................would be my guess. Just a wild one!!