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OP here - I was on the Stanford campus in 2016 and 2017, frequently riding my bike there. Never once saw a mask on a bike rider. Very little car traffic on the routes bicyclists regularly use to get around. Also a frequent bike rider in my new city of Dallas. Very rarely (if ever), have I seen a cyclist (even on roads) wear a mask. Very likely masks on the Stanford campus are in response to COVID.

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It’s understandable that you wouldn’t see people wear masks on campus prior to COVID. Mainly because mask wearing outdoors was previously a rare event for any reason in the USA prior to COVID, so you’d stick out as making a statement if you were one of the few who did. But the normalization of wearing a mask outdoors now likely plays a contributing role towards people feeling comfortable about wearing masks for other reasons that aren’t as straightforward as ‘preventing COVID’.

I also did not wear a mask when biking before COVID. Now, having easy access to masks, I would rarely bike without one, if I am near traffic, because of the better air it provides. Fair point about lack of traffic on campus though.

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