It’s amazing how many people blindly repeat this as if it’s a good argument. It’s not a good counter argument at all.

Stopping other people from catching something you might have is a fantastic reason to ask everyone to wear a mask during a pandemic. It’s actually probably the main reason you’d want to do so, from a public health perspective, because it helps you prevent asymptomatic thread. The idea that the surgeon general would beg everyone to not wear a mask is utter madness.

I completely agree with you, they make perfect sense from a public health perspective and it was a major fck up by most of the health organisations World wide to say they wouldn't (if intentional or not doesn't really matter).

However I was replying to a comment that was implying surgeons are using them to protect themselves. That is just wrong. There are enough good arguments for masks, one does not need to make incorrect statements.