When will masks and social distancing become a thing of the past?

No one knows for sure.

It would require a safe and effective vaccine, as well as everyone taking that vaccine.

Right now, there are people not wearing masks or maintaining social distance, and the numbers of people who anticipate NOT getting vaccinated are alarmingly high.

It is possible we will all be wearing masks until the universe comes to an end. Only time will tell.

Yes, I hate masks too.  I am old and have COPD and it doesn't take me long to start gasping for air.  More than that, if I gasp for air for more than 5 or 10 minutes, I am likely to go into atrial fibrillation that does NOT respond to emergency cardioversion (shocking the heart back to normal).  So far, a-fib has not yet caused a stroke, and I hope my blood thinners continue to protect me.

BUT I wear a mask anyway.  Covid is not about ME.  It is about everyone, and protecting others just in case.

No one really knows. The experts can only guess because this virus is something we have never dealt with.  I do agree that many are simply irresponsible but mostly just selfish and ignorant. My suggestion to you is to continue to take care of yourself and stay in a positive state of mind. You know the feeling of anxiousness you get when waiting for a bus or train but all it does is fill you with anxiety because it only speeds up your thoughts and makes your heart beat faster but does not make it come any sooner. Well, that's what you are doing, creating stress, anxiety and stress kills too but not only that..your resistance to diseases goes down. Do yourself a favor and ride with the tide. We cannot wish it away. Patience is a virtue.  

Best to you

Try moving this question out of the entertainment section if you’re expecting a serious conversation.

When people wake up to the fact that they're being played.  There are graphs all over the internet that show when mandatory mask wearing was put into place, the cases rose, meaning they do nothing.  Government knows this because they permit any old rag over the face to count as a mask. 

The increased number of cases only mean more testing is being done.  For example, several months ago when Florida first opened up, a "spike" was reported.  When we looked at the data we found out the "spike" occurred in the panhandle where no previous testing had been done.  The demanded response was that the entire state shut down.  If any millennial knows how to read a map and they look at Florida, they might wonder how it could be that cases in the panhandle merited shutting down Miami. If they've been conditioned to believe government knows best, they won't think.  They don't know how. Then there is history.  The number of cases of swine flu in 2009 reached 55-60 million in the US alone. We didn't shut down anything and we survived. Fewer deaths, yes, but the counting was different and there was a vaccine.  The mean age of deaths attributed to covid, including the guy who died in a motorcycle accident in Tampa, but was reported as a covid death, and assuming the reporting is honest and accurate, is 79. The bulk of the deaths occurred in nursing homes where the governors of NY, NJ, and CT sent people sick with the virus.  Just brilliant. The survival rate for those under 65 is over 99% and the survival rate over 65 is 95+%. Florida recently opened their schools in their entirety. No "spike."  Georgia never shut down.  They are no worse than any other state and better than most if not all. Overseas there is virtually no difference in covid cases and covid deaths between Sweden and Finland.  One locked down the other didn't. Suckers. 

When the virus is completely over with.

If we all wore masks and behaved ourselves now, we could get rid of it in a few months, but as things are, this is going on for a long time.