Why are people being forced to wear a mask for COVID-19 but not when they have a cold or the flu?

I’m guessing because there are medicines for the flu and cold but not for COVID-19.

People have been wearing a mask for decades, if they have an illness, so it's not new to us.

Because there are medicines that effectively treat colds and the flu

Because Covid is much more contagious 

Because  Covid is much more deadly

It's about severity. You should know this by now. No one can force you to accept the facts.

This particular coronavirus, Covid-19, is easily, airborne, highly contagious and highly infectious. 

Unlike a lot of other viruses, this one is very painful and causing a lot of people to die alone, without their loved ones nearby. 

And the hospitals are filling up fast. Wear a mask - save space in the hospital for someone who really needs it. 

People don't die of colds and wealthy countries, with socialised medicine, like mine,  have measures in place which ensures those most at risk of dying of flu are inoculated every year.

Until that is possible to do with Covid19, wearing a mask helps stop the virus spreading and helps protects us all from catching and spreading it.

If people did this willingly, which the vast majority do in most countries, then such laws would not be needed and fewer people would be dead.

Wouldn't that be because for the most part, people don't die from a cold/the flu!!

the death rate is far higher for covid than it is for a cold or the flu