The more damaging thing to science, in my opinion was the stigma that became assocaited with questioning experts. In some situations, public official made using

The more damaging thing to science, in my opinion was the stigma that became assocaited with questioning experts. In some situations, public official made using deductive reasoning politicized. The entire point of science is making a hypothesis and testing it. The value of science comes from being allowed to be wrong without judgement. Showing something is wrong is what allows research to then move towards the "right" direction. But politicizing which "wrong" theory should be entertained makes it harder to properly and thorougly research credible possiblities. It feels like public health officals made a call about the origins of the virus based on political reasons, while presenting it as scientific. Even if they did not directly share that sentiment, there was very little pushback to correct that misunderstanding. It's very similar to the initial calls for masks to NOT be used by the public. It was later clarified that this guideline was an attempt to avoid medical supply shortages by hospitals, but it was presented as scientifically founded and based on an understanding of the virus. The public policy was based on supply chain considerations, and yet "World Health Organization and U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have both said that only people with COVID-19 symptoms and those caring for them should wear masks". "Seriously people-STOP BUYING MASKS!" began a 29 February tweet from U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams." [1] Like most people, I assumed the recommendation came from some biology I didn't understand. I imagine the officials that made this guidelines regret it. I can't say they did the best they could, because they intentionally directly opposed China's guidelies at the time. Quoting China's CDC head Dr. George Gao, "The big mistake in the U.S. and Europe, in my opinion, is that people aren't wearing masks. This virus is transmitted by droplets and close contact. Droplets play a very important role—you've got to wear a mask, because when you speak, there are always droplets coming out of your mouth. Many people have asymptomatic or presymptomatic infections. If they are wearing face masks, it can prevent droplets that carry the virus from escaping and infecting others." (27 MAR 2020) [2] I think it's important to recognize that the anti-science sentiment existed long before covid-19 and has only incrased. A major problem is that public officials allow science to be politicized. These mistake during covid-19 directly lead to amplifying the anti-mask and anti-vaccine sentiment. People that entertained the lab leak hypothesis were intially put into the same group as the anti-mask and anti-vaccine crowd. Those initial impressiosn are very hard to erase. Public sentiment on who is trustworthy is unpredictable. People will always come to conclusions based on incomplete information. There needs to be stronger push by public health officials to share uncomfortable truths with the public earlier and demonstrate that science is above politics. 1. https://www.science.org/content/article/would-everyone-wearing-face-masks-help-us-slow-pandemic https://www.science.org/content/article/would-everyone-weari... (28 MAR 2020) 2. https://www.science.org/content/article/not-wearing-masks-protect-against-coronavirus-big-mistake-top-chinese-scientist-says https://www.science.org/content/article/not-wearing-masks-pr...