The problem has always been that this disease is very unusual in many different ways. This has quite understandably caused many best efforts at estimating it's behaviour to turn out to be wrong.
Messaging needs to be consistent and err on the side of caution... this was the exact opposite of both of those things.
SARS-CoV-2 is actually not that unusual – the mRNA COVID vaccines that have been developed are based on the spike protein that is common to all "coronaviruses" (hence the name) and was previously isolated from SARS-CoV-1 (i.e. SARS). At the very least we knew it was a coronavirus early on, so there is no reason you wouldn't assume it was respiratory in nature, just like SARS was.
> This is a coronavirus, just as SARS was before it. This one seems both more lethal and more contagious than SARS, so we are recommending everyone wears a face-mask (even one you've made yourself) when you go to any public place until we understand more about the virus.
etc. etc. etc.
Not "no need to wear a face mask".
This also to a large extent fuelled the anti-makser movement you have trouble reigning in now. Absolutely moronic.
https://www.thestreet.com/video/dr-fauci-masks-changing-dire...
And most anti-maskers are against it because of government overreach. Unrelated to science.
A third party has emerged. The "we'll believe and parrot anything because it's what we're told".
They act in the following realm (whether they are aware or not): Cotton/cloth masks don't work. But it qualifies as a mask so checkbox! Moral superiority is on my side whether science is or not doesn't matter.
Fauci lied (and admitted to it) that masks weren't effective and suggested that the average person should not wear them.
To be fair, I heard the whole medical community here (I'm in one of the largest medical centers in the world) laugh and scoff at normal people wearing masks (because they weren't trained and it isn't effective).
And now we have no N95 for the general public and idiotic cloth masks (that don't work).
So it turns out they weren't far off I their scoffing... But for the wrong reasons.
Now we see them (and other anto-science) normals flip and ignore the data on bad masks. "Something is better than nothing". False sense of security and just more lies and moral superiority.
Maybe all of the other examples of Americans coming together against a common threat from the last couple of centuries?
The messaging wasn't consistent. The POTUS ranted and raved on Twitter ad nausium about how its all a hoax.
Do you not remember the March lockdowns?
Everyone was saying that except Trump and the people in the Administration whose mouths he taped shut, next thought he'd look bad if a pandemic existed so he said things like "there's a dozen cases now, they'll be none soon; this will be over by Easter". Then when he was briefly reined in, we had a belated national effort to lockdown with "30 days to stop the spread".
Stating your rationale doesn't mean your rationale is backed up with evidence.
Again, top public health officials need to be held to a higher standard. That means understanding how populations behave, not just understanding the medicine. That means consistent messaging. The message throughout should've been:
> This is a dangerous virus, and the best way not to get it is to avoid contact with any other people at all. However, if you absolutely need to come into contact with other individuals, risk can be reduced if everyone is wearing a mask. Masks are not anywhere near 100% effective, but they do help, which is why you should be avoiding human contact and only be going out with a mask if absolutely necessary.