Why didn’t we ever have to wear masks in our life until now?

I woke up from a coma and was so shocked to hear what was going on wondering what the deal is with everyone wearing masks and acting weird with store limits. For the past 60 years I have been living, I have never ever experienced government forcing mask wearing and never have experienced places shutting down just because of an illness. The world has become a joke. We are treating Covid like the worst disease in history that is so lethal that if you go out, you can die from it. They keep announcing Covid cases on the news but no other deadly disease like the flu, Pneumonia, and heart attacks with how many cases regarding those. I don’t understand and we are forced to wear masks taking our freedom rights and social distancing. Since when do we have to wear masks and social distance just because of an illness? Someone kept me updated last year in 2020 when I wasn’t around and told me what happened and what I missed then when I heard and saw footage, I seriously thought this was a fantasy dream but it isn’t.

Why didn’t any of this happen for all these years? Even 100 years ago during that pandemic, no one enforced mask wearing.