SARS-CoV-1 is airborne, so why would an informed person think that SARS-CoV-2 was not likely to be airborne? Masks are effective in original SARS and influenza

SARS-CoV-1 is airborne, so why would an informed person think that SARS-CoV-2 was not likely to be airborne? Masks are effective in original SARS and influenza, so why would an informed person conclude masks would not likely be effective on the new coronavirus? Influenza needs boosters annually due to variants — why would a reasonable person know either way at the beginning that boosters would be unnecessary? I think you drank too much government koolaid in your list of ostensibly false things. Worries about mask shortages, diplomatic relations with China, availability of vaccines in the global south, and inducing people to get vaccinated the first time all led to our governments lying to us and presenting it as science. I don’t think the actions were malicious, but they ended up being both wrong and bad public policy.