[andrepd]

It wasn't only the mainstream view in the US, it was the leading medical advice by the World Health Organisation. This isn't a matter of questioning politicians, but of trusting reputed experts and expert authorities on technical matters.

[SpicyLemonZest]

I don't think journalists need to distrust authority, necessarily. But good journalism would involve followup questions like:

* Are masks ineffective in the sense that they don't reliably stop the spread of the coronavirus, or in the sense that they don't impact it in any way?

* Taiwan and South Korea believe masks are effective and are handing them out to their citizens. Why do they believe masks are effective, and if it's not true what do we know that they don't?

* Masks intuitively ought to work; I cough out the virus, but sometimes it'll get caught in the mask instead of going into someone's nose and mouth. What part of this story is flawed?

[AlchemistCamp]

Tedros, the current director general of the WHO, was credibly accused of covering up three cholera epidemics in his home country before he managed to get his current position.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/13/health/candidate-who-dire...

Also see: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22872958

[nopriorarrests]

Are you sure that WHO is run by reputed experts and not by career bureaucrats whose motivation is mostly political, not medical? Because after the whole thing unfolded, it seems to be exactly the case.