I think it was only the Surgeon General who was against them, and the immediate need was to stop the public from buying medical grade masks because government was caught short handed for medical workers and first responders.
Even now they aren’t recommending medical grade for the public. But they ARE recommending masks.
It’s not that hard to wear one for a couple of months, to protect others.
They flip-flopped on this issue more than a bluefish landing in the bottom of the boat.
They are clueless. Fubared this from the get-go. No reason to invest any faith into what they say now.
One of the admirals on the task force discussed face masks in detail on the daily broadcast.
He told us that wearing face masks will not protect a person from the virus. That is, wearing the facemask does not protect you from the virus. Separation of 6 feet will and does
The face mask prevents transmission of the virus from you to others. The virus is stopped from being expelled by the face mask. Thus, those with the virus and those not knowing they have the virus must wear the masks to prevent unknowingly spreading it to others. Since you do not knw if you are a carrier, wear the face mask in public
Just sayin’
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-cdc-says-americans-dont-have-to-wear-facemasks-because-of-coronavirus-2020-01-30
I bet they would/will if/when they had/have enough to go around.
And I could find nothing from the World Health Organization (WHO) recommending masks of any type unless you are caring for someone who has Covid-19. Their distancing recommendation was 3 feet. This dates from the 17th of April. https://www.who.int/news-room/q-a-detail/q-a-coronaviruses