"Little white lies" by Fauci and others damage their credibility with skeptics. People distrustful of government or partial to doubting "the narrative" just have to point to the "masks don't help" line to make their case.

And there is something to be said about it. If public health experts are willing to lie, to mislead the public for the greater good, well, the greater good can kiss my ass if my life is in the balance.

We recognize the intent of Fauci's lie was noble, but then others may think the economy is really important and say "no it doesn't spread inside much at all! Just turn on the A/C or open a window". Once government gets into the habit of lying to the masses like that, trust can be eroded permanently.

I would straight up rather have had government go into stores and factories to confiscate (with compensation) masks from suppliers rather than lie to the public for little benefit. Even better, I'd like my government to be competent enough to prepare adequately for certain disaster scenarios like an airborne disease, by keeping a _real_ stockpile of masks on hand, or encouraging every healthcare worker to keep a month's supply of N95 on hand for their job, etc.

tl;dr we need bigger, smarter government, not one that lies. This goes for the economy, too: Free trade is government-supported redistribution of wealth toward the top of the economy. Government needs to enforce that care is given to the losers of our economic model.