| - U.S. Surgeon General Feb 6
> Americans should be more concerned about the flu than coronavirus [...] As surgeon general, I’m telling folks the number one way to protect ourselves is to get a flu shot. - U.S. Surgeon General @Surgeon_General Feb 29
> Seriously people- STOP BUYING MASKS! > They are NOT effective in preventing general public from catching #Coronavirus, but if healthcare providers can’t get them to care for sick patients, it puts them and our communities at risk! - U.S. Surgeon General, Mar 6 [Deleted Tweet]
> Early am flight. No one with masks (they aren't recommended for general public) but noticed several people using antibacterial wipes on seats (I do this too). I'm not worried about #COVID19 - I'm worried about #flu & the guy reclining all the way back into me before takeoff. :/ "Surgeon general says administration "trying to correct" earlier guidance against wearing masks" July 12
> We're trying to correct that messaging, but it's very hard to do. So what do we call this? Criminal negligence? The World Health Organization played World Trade Organization and warned against banning flights from China. The U.S. General cared more about hardware stores not running out of masks, so medics could still get the masks that the government neglected to store or produce in case of a pandemic. The greatest U.S. authorities (including Azar and Fauci) did not trust the intelligence of the general public enough to promote mask usage, as they were afraid we were going to infect ourself by licking the front the mask when discarding it. "Better to just avoid sick people" they said, completely ignoring the impossibility of identifying sick people with asymptomatic spread or avoiding other people in busy cities. "Only wear a mask when you are sick" they said, condemning people who thought for themselves and read the research, and wore a mask to protect themselves and their caretakers, to the status of Leprosy sufferers. |
We call this "lying to manage supply", which is worse than negligence. The US Surgeon-General could have instead said something like "We need the best masks for healthcare workers because they are at the most risk, but we don't have enough right now. Here's how to sew your own cloth masks: $LINK. The general population is at lower risk, so please leave rated respirators for healthcare, where they can do the most good."
The Czech republic told its citizens to make masks for each other. That could have been a good move too.