If you listen to the interviews with the CDC officials, they generally did communicate it like that. But people often hear what they want to hear, and if they'v

If you listen to the interviews with the CDC officials, they generally did communicate it like that. But people often hear what they want to hear, and if they've heard a lot of skepticism about the CDC from trusted political leaders, they're going to listen to what those leaders say the CDC said, rather than what it actually said. The obvious potential disadvantage of a knee-jerk reaction against authority in an emergency is that many could die because a few people opposed any mandate out of misplaced principle. Whether you think that is relevant in this case depends on whether you understand what the true dangers were. I think most of the people opposed to masking and vaccine mandates simply never understood the epidemic beyond the immediate threat it presented to themselves personally. And of course public officials are responsible for a much bigger picture.