4 ms·

People were going to hoard masks no matter what. Lying to them doesn't help, but it definitely reduces trust.

• outime 6y ago
  We can’t know for sure but I bet many people didn’t hoard or didn’t even bother to buy any in the beginning because of this announcement. At big scale (e.g. USA) this means millions of saved masks. And I agree with your last point of course.
  • twblalock 6y ago
    > At big scale (e.g. USA) this means millions of saved masks. At what cost? How many people have died because mask wearing was discouraged during the early part of the pandemic? We will probably never know, but I would not be surprised if that advice caused a lot of deaths by allowing the virus to spread more easily.
    • outime 6y ago
      The benefit was to save masks so health workers would get them (at least most of them) and the goal was more or less met. Cost? Probably too high. Alternatives? Again I don’t defend these actions, I’m just trying to reason why they decided to go that way and not the most instintive one “let’s be fully transparent” (at least for HN anyway).
    • maxerickson 6y ago
      The many public figures dismissing masks after things really got going in July killed more people than the communication mistakes in February. Then they kept dismissing them in August and September and October and November and December, and many are still doing it now. Face coverings were ordered in many states starting in April.
• coolgeek 6y ago
  This is true. A competent administration would have bought up enough of (or all of) the PPE inventory as soon as they understood what was coming. At that point, there would have been no need to lie, because there would have been nothing left for the public to hoard. I'm not blaming the CDC, or the SG. I'm blaming the political decision makers above them