It does affect others. First of all, its taxpayer-funded waste. As a conservationist, it's offensive to see the government taking resources, wasting them, and the result is N95s in the gutters and along the sidewalks everywhere, ultimately filling up the landfills needlessly.
On a societal level, we are pack creatures. We follow the herd. If the herd is misled, it is prone to irrational bad behavior. Everyone in the group is subjected to the results of that. There are many, and if you didn't learn that lesson over the last 3 years, you never will.