COVID-19 Outbreak (Update: More than 2.9M cases and 132,313 deaths in US)
Yep... but Like I said... either the "science" has changed in a couple months' time, so the recommendation was changed... or it was a very public Lie being told at the highest levels in March/April to limit the public wearing / hoarding / purchasing of masks...
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Science (by definition) is the ongoing/relentless questioning, observation, and testing in the search of truth/knowledge... and to say were are there in the latter part of that definition - is a stretch at best... and dangerously arrogant at worst. JMO.
Public health policy is informed by science but also by other considerations. I do think the consensus has evolved based on research and analysis. And I do think sometimes difficult priority choices have to be made in policymaking. But that still doesn't justify misleading the public (if that did indeed happen on purpose).
Right. And I don't think it did happen.
I think part of the problem is misunderstanding the basis for giving recommendations from a medical/scientific point of view. It is not the same as it is from a casual "sounds like it should work" point of view.
Because from a medical point of view, there's the precept of "first, do no harm". To know whether recommending something will do harm, you need evidence; is it helpful, is it harmful. Not does it
sound like it should be one or the other. Is there actual evidence?
And when you have something like considering whether to recommend masks for this specific situation, you do have the possibility of harm, both from taking masks away from priority workers - which they were explicit about - and from the known possibility of greater exposure through misuse of a mask (e.g. handling incorrectly, touching face more frequently) and inadvertently driving more reckless behaviour (e.g. people exposing themselves to higher loads of virus despite wearing a mask due to ignoring social distancing and exposing themselves to more crowded situations). Against that, there isn't much evidence to support it being effective. Hence, the recommendation has generally been to keep medical masks for those who need them, and to not make a recommendation for wearing masks for others. That is in line with the evidence. No misleading involved.
All of those factors have been explicitly addressed by those offering advice. If you take a look at the
WHO advice on masks, for example, it's all there.
That said, I think what has been changing is that the evidence that COVID-19 spreads from non-asymptomatic individuals and through breathing in exhalations has been increasingly building up, which shifts weight towards the possible benefits of non-medical masks for healthy individuals as a mechanism for reducing that transmission path, which is one reason why I think we're seeing a shift towards recommending masks in the community, despite the lack of well-evaluated evidence showing a benefit.
From that point of view - which is also my own - I would absolutely recommend wearing a mask. And I personally think the public health policy - as distinct from the purely scientific point of view - should have adopted that earlier, and emphasised both education in how to correctly use masks, and the importance of maintaining all other precautions (distancing, hygiene, etc.) to address the possible counter-productive elements of recommending mask use.
But if you look, it's completely clear why the scientific medical view has been, and is, what it is.