People are regularly urged to wear masks at this point, but that was not always the case.
In the early stages of the pandemic, Americans were told they don't need to wear a mask because masks may not be effective anyway.
We know masks are actually very effective at preventing the spread of the coronavirus, but the Trump regime knew that as well. They intentionally lied because there was a critical shortage of masks according to Dr. Fauci.
Fauci explained the early advice against masks by saying: "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."
N95 masks are higher-grade equipment than ordinary masks and mainly used by medical workers.
He added that the government did not want healthcare workers "to be without the equipment that they needed ... We were afraid that that would deter away the people who really needed it."
Was it the right call to tell people that they shouldn't wear a mask just because they were afraid we would run out of them?
I don't think so because, at the same time, Trump refused to invoke the Defense Production Act to manufacture masks. And they also had plenty of time to prepare for the virus and avoid a shortage or, at the very least, reduce the severity of it.
Hindsight may be 20/20, but I think intentionally misinforming the public was irresponsible or at least unethical. People literally died because Americans were initially told that masks wouldn't help them and even today, in June, refusing to wear a mask has become a conservative movement shibboleth. Even more people could still die because of official misinformation that was shared earlier this year.