Yes, medical folk wanted to get masks for medical folk (some of whom even know how to wear them) but "they didn't want a panic" is self-deception. They may hav

Yes, medical folk wanted to get masks for medical folk (some of whom even know how to wear them) but "they didn't want a panic" is self-deception. They may have wanted that effect but that was not the likely result of such an announcement. That's because the public health community has been incompetent at best and typically self-defeating at messaging for decades. Unfortunately, pretty much everything other than self-evident statements out of the public health community has been good reason to think that the exact opposite is the right response. In this case, "don't panic" was best interpreted as "things are likely to go south, so urgent action is probably a good idea". "hey, don't hoard masks, we don't have enough for medical personnel" would have been more effective. As to the feds seizing masks, that was mostly the public health community doing the seizing.