Masks are just one part of a multi-pronged approach to reducing transmission which includes testing, contact tracing, maintaining physical distance, practicing good hygiene, as well as quarantining after travel, maintaining consistent limited social groups, staying outdoors, avoiding large group functions even with distancing, and going even further than all of that for high risk individuals or during surges if ICU capacity is stretched, to implement shutdowns and lockdowns, until ultimately, herd immunity is reached naturally or through vaccination.
All together it still hasn’t stopped COVID in its tracks, and with tens of millions of active cases, there’s no scientific basis for expecting that it would.
Short answer; it’s possible some percentage of them would be delayed.
I think it makes people feel better to have something to blame, particular when it sounds just so simple.
