The entire mask mandate (and bear in mine I wore mine as required) was on shaky ground when the federal government did their “masks aren’t required” then flipped to the placebo effect of “they are required” only when manufacturers had enough supply last spring. People can argue the merits of that all they want but it’s a fact."
Your fact is wrong, CDC changed their recommendation regarding masks when scientific studies shown their effectiveness, those studies did not exist in Feb-Mar 2020 as COVID-19 was a new virus still being studied, hence masks not required as at that time there was no science to support use, that would change a few months later- that timeline and change in CDC recommendation is well documented.
March 2020, masks were in short supply, at that time no masks required for the general public:
“Seriously people,” the surgeon general said on Twitter, warning that a run on the masks could risk a shortage harmful to public health professionals.
www.nytimes.com
Then when supplies became available later on, its mask up everyone!
As to science changing policy later? Sure. It also happened to coincide with increased capacity of PPE more so than frontline health care workers.
Ask yourself this: if the CDC discovers at the time that masks do indeed limit spread but there aren’t masks to hand out what kind of might that have caused? Oh. That’s right there are instructions on the (CDC approvedwebsite on how to make your own.
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention now recommends using face coverings in public settings like grocery stores and pharmacies to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus and its associated disease COVID-19, but it’s important not to compete with medical professionals and other...
news.yahoo.com
Here’s the kicker for me. I think that was actually a good move, people not being reliant on the government is a good thing.
So in order:
1. Initially- no or limited mask availability. Save it for the front line healthcare workers. Lowe’s, Home Depot, construction companies (at least around here) start donating their supplies; feds implore people to not buy them. After a while places like Lowe’s and Home Depot remove even the shelf tags from the stores. Websites list them as for healthcare workers only.
2. Oh crap moment sets in. This can be mitigated by wearing masks but not enough to go around. Instruct people how to make them while production ramps up.
3. Enough are in circulation, mask up!
Lastly as to the CDC changing based on info? Sure as more info becomes available they should do so, kinda like this:
We have a special edition of the newsletter on a misleading C.D.C. statistic.
www.nytimes.com
TLDR: sure you can buy into that the didn’t know about transmission via air (I’m not buying that for one second). It’s also highly likely they didn’t recommend it knowing what it would do to a nation that is now panicky by nature if they could t provide masks.
YMMV
Signed someone who started wearing masks in early late/February early March of 2020 before the CDC did their flip/flop of what to do.
