I think you're giving them a great deal too much credit. Very few people actively seek to spread any disease. Specific precautions may be refused, but that is different than intentional spreading.
Realistically, it just appears that as a species, we have remarkably limited ability to stop a disease once it's gone pandemic. Early detection may still be effective, and arguably has been for a number of diseases. The former is far, far harder to do.
So, worst case, we've at least learned a fair bit. That may be small comfort in comparison to the lives lost, but hopefully it will be of use for future disease fighting efforts. Perhaps more effort will happen in the future to avoid risk of early spread and on early detection, reducing our risk of another such pandemic. Less effort can be expended on things that don't work at all.
I certainly hope not. Some might, there were some laws in some areas against masks beforehand, but realistically, choice goes both ways. You should have just as much freedom to wear a mask as they do to not.At this point, I think I'm wearing a mask as much to offend the willing slaves of disease as I am to protect people. But I have no doubt they'll start pushing to make masks illegal.
Hopefully that stays true, rather than it becoming some kind of endless grudge match where both sides just want to make the other suffer.