October82
Well-Known Member
*Plays clip of Fauci saying that people should NOT be wearing masks.*
I'm not sure what the point here is.
Fauci was neither lying, nor was he speaking from a place of incompetence. During the early stages of this pandemic, there was a major shortage of PPE as both medical professionals and many in the public sought out medical grade masks for both urgent and non-urgent reasons. At the time, we did not know whether non-medical grade face coverings would provide sufficient protection, so the advice was to not wear a mask since that would lead to people who had urgent need of them being unable to get them.
Even now, the recommendation is for cloth face coverings and not medical grade masks because 1) medical grade masks are still in high demand and low supply and 2) cloth face coverings, when used consistently and by everyone, provide sufficient protection to lower the rate of community spread. This is because covid-19 is now understood to spread primarily through large aerosolized droplets. Early in the pandemic, we did not know the primary means by which this spreads.
One of the hardest parts about science and one of the ways that it is different from politics is that our understanding and recommendations change as we uncover new information. In politics we think of people changing their views as a negative, while in science this generally reflects honesty. This is also why you should listen to and trust scientists, their job is not to appear correct or to support a political agenda. The advice you get from public health officials may change, but it is still the best advice you can get.