I distinctly remember during one press conference Dr. Brix (Birx? I forget) showed a slide of how the aerosol “dissipates” after a certain distance. That was the justification for 6 feet. It may have been a lie, and had no effect on transmission, but that was what they said.
But they made so many contradictory and shifting claims it’s hard to know what’s true, and that is the great shame. They have lost the trust of great swaths of the American - and worldwide - people. It would have been much better if they just said “we don’t know, we are looking into it”. Instead they went hardcore authoritarian and made stuff up that was patently false or intentionally misleading.
When one attains to high office, one must maintain the illusion of control. That is truly dangerous when it comes to public policy.