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Comment by woeirua | Hacker News Reader

All of the media messaging around COVID has been a complete disaster from the moment it became apparent it was spreading in January in China. One of the main takeaways from this pandemic needs to be that doctors and experts need to learn how to say the words: "I don't know, but we are working hard to find out." Way too many people have made statements that later turned out to be false. The lack of any consistency and the complete flip-flopping on masks has completely undermined the public's willingness to trust the experts.

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The messaging regarding masks was "They don't keep you from getting it, and everyone should be inside right now to avoid spreading it if they have it, so avoid buying a mask to make sure there are enough for people who need them." The messaging regarding masks now is, "They don't keep you from getting it, but they do stop you from spreading it, so since there are enough masks now for everyone, you should wear one." It doesn't seem like a flip-flop so much as responding to the current state of the world.

I think the public's willingness to trust the experts has been undermined more by a large portion of the US government deliberately trying to undermine public trust in the experts.

“When to use mask:

- If you are healthy, you only need to wear a mask if you are taking care of a person with suspected #coronavirus infection.

- Wear a mask if you are coughing or sneezing”

WHO, Mar 1, https://twitter.com/who/status/1234095938555260929?s=21

“the wide use of masks by healthy people in the community setting is not supported by current evidence and carries uncertainties and critical risks.”

WHO, Apr 6, https://apps.who.int/iris/handle/10665/331693

That second source goes on to point out that its major concern (in terms of "uncertainties and critical risks") is healthy people using medical masks in places where there isn't enough supply and depriving healthcare workers of them, like I said. It specifically does not advise against nonmedical masks, and simply notes that the WHO was still actively studying their use at the time and would make a recommendation when evidence was available.

So the "flip-flop" here was the WHO saying "I don't know, I'm looking into it," and then later saying "I've looked into it and have some strong recommendations."

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