I don't think anything they said stopped people from trying to purchase masks. Certainly a majority of the population decided not to, but very quickly all masks

I don't think anything they said stopped people from trying to purchase masks. Certainly a majority of the population decided not to, but very quickly all masks that were available to the public were bought. In the end they had to control the medical supply chain. It's a lot more work than lying to the public, but it actually works. Unfortunately lying lost the trust of the public and COVID became a highly political issue.