Took my parents a bit to 180 on that one.
I sent them N95s in late Feb and they still don't really wear them (though at least they wear basic fabric masks). At first they told me 'those don't prevent covid - i heard might make it worse.' I tried to explain what n95 technically meant to no avail.
As recently as two months ago I argued with a doctor (not my doctor, a person I met) that these guidelines were off, poor messaging and an outright mistake given the trust fallout. I was told, no no, when I was getting my license, they made us do specialized fitting and testing and even put down some fit information on a card (she showed me a card with details). I was confused, since N95s come in two sizes, regular and "small."
This is an example of an institutional/acedemic ivory tower needing a reality check if I ever saw one. How many people died because many people heard that masks were useless and even harmful? Nope, not red tie people or flat earthers, or whatever conspiratorialists du jour that enjoy mainstream press coverage; here, mainstream institutions are responsible for this.
I wore a mask the first week of March because it was common sense to wear a mask the first week of March. It took until JUNE for the WHO to change its tune (https://www.webmd.com/lung/news/20200608/who-changes-stance-...).
This expert did the professional version of a facepalm when she recounted the times when these health experts failed in their drills. She made it clear that the public will look to them as experts, so be clear, be informative, tell the truth, give actionable steps, etc. Because if these experts _don't_ do these things, the public will look elsewhere. And that "elsewhere" will likely be random yahoos on the internet. Doctors saying "wear a mask" will have greater overall benefits, even if people follow that advice BADLY.
Yes, if you want absolute certainty in a highly infectious environment like the hospital, when you're doing bronchoscopies or taking care of COVID patients, you'd want to get the fit absolutely perfect (especially if it takes key resources like Nurses / docs out of commission for several weeks).
But if you're just worried about everyday scenarios like sharing an elevator in my apartment building or going to a grocery store where people still seem to turn up with out masks (or worse, pretend bandanas are masks) or get on public transit, then getting some protection is good enough.
Edit: I misremembered the original advice. CDC specifically said masks were unnecessary. Obviously they didn't have the evidence to make that kind of assertion.
The CDC has more an ambiguous relationship but they came out against masks in Feb and reversed course somewhat in April. https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2020/05/22/mask-w...!
I would take a step back from partisan politics for this issue, something people have a very tough time with even in the best of times. We should criticize all institutions when they're wrong on questions of public health.
There is no reasonable explanation except that the misleading statements were intentional - there's no way they didn't notice how their statements were received. And infamously the US Surgeon General made a pretty clear statement with his "Don't buy masks" tweet.
> I was confused, since N95s come in two sizes, regular and "small."
As I understand it, if neither passes the fit test, you need a different brand or can't do work that requires one.
We did not find evidence that surgical-type face masks are
effective in reducing laboratory-confirmed influenza
transmission, either when worn by infected persons (source
control) or by persons in the general community to reduce
their susceptibility
For what it's worth I have a degree in physics and used to work in rocketry and sim science so I'm not just some naive person arguing with a domain expert.
What I learned from this is that there's a lot going on besides facts. Social status and signaling matters a lot and the reason they were upset is because I upset that, even though it was in private. When we politicize and socialize things it's a double edged sword. It can get people to adopt strategies but can also add binders.