[sigmaprimus]

I wear masks and have been wearing one since the "experts" were claiming they were not needed. It just seemed so odd to hear them say that when at the same time the doctors and nurses were screaming that they didn't have enough.

There have been so many mixed and misleading messages I understand why some people doubt the efficacy of masks.

Remember "Don't touch your face"? What happened to that?

I think if the communication people had just come clean and admitted they mislead the public in order to secure the PPE the healthcare system needed and prevent hoarding (Like what happened with TP), there would be far less anti-mask rhetoric.

Unfortunately these politicians doubled down and tried to differentiate between medical and non medical masks. Totally a CMA attitude that understandably has been met with a degree of mistrust.

[diebeforei485]

There was a big screw-up on masks that the public health establishment has not come out and apologized for. And they wonder why people don't trust them...

[Terretta]

Hasn't apologized, but has admitted that the reason Americans were initially discouraged from using them is because there was a shortage. From a Fauci interview with The Street:

“We were concerned the public health community, and many people were saying this, were concerned that it was at a time when personal protective equipment, including the N95 masks and the surgical masks, were in very short supply,” Fauci told The Street. "We wanted to make sure the people, namely, the healthcare workers, who were brave enough to put themselves in harm's way to take care of people who you know were infected with coronavirus, and the danger of them getting infected. We did not want them to be without the equipment they needed."

-- https://thehill.com/changing-america/well-being/prevention-c...

[Steltek]

After watching people's behavior, which varies from selfish, bizarre, or sociopathic, they weren't wrong to be concerned. Especially when it appears the Federal government would have been logistically incapable of, or unwilling to, securing a good supply for healthcare workers, if they did tell the truth and provoke a mask buying panic. The list of shameful actions this year is going to be longer than a CVS receipt for a single package of Tylenol.

[jliptzin]

What about "don't touch your face?" Who is advocating to start touching your face? If you don't have to touch your face, don't do it. I've heard that advice well before covid and all throughout the pandemic.

[sigmaprimus]

I've heard it well before too, but when is the last time you heard it? But thats besides my point. We were mislead about masks in the beginning, even Fauchi was not advocating mask wearing in the beginning, yet there were stories about nurses being forced to ration and re-use theirs. I'm not saying it wasn't what needed to be done but it had consequences, one of which is a certain level of skepticism when the message is changed from "Masks are not" to "Masks are"

[everdrive]

>don't touch your face

This is just general common sense advice for literally an illness. It's not COVID-specific. If you touch your eyes, nose, and mouse, you're more likely to get infected by whatever's around.

[sigmaprimus]

I agree, not arguing with You. The point is I watch people on the news everyday adjusting their masks, pulling them under their nose, scratching their foreheads etc... yet I honestly have not heard a word regarding face touching for the past 2 or 3 months. Can you honestly say you have? I wasn't arguing for face touching so don't get all virtuous and preachy about my comment.

[diplomatpuppy]

It also frustrating that the same “experts” are sowing FUD on the vaccine effort. Of course they’ll eventually chastise people who now have their fears confirmed and become suspicious.