The COVID-19 pandemic

[jeffster]

That might be true, but the government could easily restrict sales of N95's, which was needed by the medical community. In the early stages, they said anything less than N95's were useless. There wasn't much thought given to the idea that masks could limit spread. Dr. Tam was quite vocal initially that simple masks were ineffective.

N95 is what a doctor or nurse absolutely needs when dealing with an infectious patient. But every healthcare worker, whether in a hospital or in LTC, should have been wearing a surgical mask to limit the spread. Unfortunately there was a serious shortage of those, too.

So, I think what happened was that they tried to deemphasize the importance of masks to the public to avoid a panic. And the message was muddled, causing no end of confusion.

It's actually surprising how unprepared we were. You can't say were weren't warned. Obama was talking about it a couple years before he left. With Hollywood movies also depicting it (and Contagion being eerily accurate), we should have been prepared. Even the Bible talks about it.

That said, I don't agree with the so-called experts in the early goings. As I said, I have hard arguments with people over PPE in the early going. Many would site Dr. Tam, or Dr. Fauci, the experts, on why masks were no good. And while I have a lot of respect for both doctors, they really did let the public down. And I am still surprised that mandatory masks still isn't a thing nation wide. The feds have the ability to mandate it, they haven't.