That was the issue initially where scientific messaging clashed with public messaging. People said "Will masks protect us?" and scientifically, the answer is

That was the issue initially where scientific messaging clashed with public messaging. People said "Will masks protect us?" and scientifically, the answer is no. No mask will 100% protect you Unfortunately people take that and run with it to mean masks are useless and do nothing at all. If this has taught us anything, is that you can't give the layperson scientific information because they don't really understand the impact. If the message from the start had always been "No it won't completely protect you, but wearing any kind of mask will drastically slow the spread" then maybe people would've been more receptive (And maybe the US wouldn't have politicised mask wearing)