[revelio]

That's the explanation they came up with for why they were lying, but these people are self-admitted liars so why would you believe their lies any further?

If you are in charge of government and worried about mask availability, the right thing to do is pass laws seizing mask supplies. This is easy because they were almost all being imported from China anyway.

The worst possible thing to do would be to assert with 100% confidence that for scientific reasons masks don't work to the entire population including healthcare workers, and then later invert your position over night. Anyone who thinks this is a reasonable way to manage material logistics is clearly far too stupid to be in charge of anything, let alone critical government functions.