Can you point to any countries that encouraged mask use where that ended up being the general sentiment? It's not like encouraging mask use means restrictions on shopping, dining, etc. wouldn't also exist.

Besides, you could make the same argument for something like wearing a helmet while bike riding. I'm sure there are situations where false peace of mind is a problem, but I don't see why we should assume mask wearing would be one of them.

At the time they were obviously operating with limited information, but it's crazy to me that people continue to defend the early pandemic mask messaging. They screwed up, it happens, but it should be acknowledged and there should be a post mortem.

Most "N95" masks that are generally available (i.e. those from Home Depot) have the rubber flapper valves for exhalation. Think they do anything much useful medically?

How many people have you seen wearing clear plastic face shields or bandannas tied around their face like Ol' West banditos, with the bottom open? How about with the mask pulled down below their nose? (Disclaimer: I did that the other day; I was at the optometrist and my breath was fogging up the lens thingy.)

The early pandemic mask messaging was wrong. A postmortem might very well find that they made the best recommendations they could based on what they knew.[1] Unless you've already decided that they screwed up because they're lying idiots.

[1] See https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26138301: "(I note that there was a meeting of epidemiologists in March, 2020, where famously, no one wore masks. How far are you willing to to go to lie?)"

Based on what they knew, or what they should have known? I never said they were idiots, but Asian countries already had data on mask use during SARS. I also don't think they were lying about what they thought at the time, moreso they were misleading about their level of uncertainty on the topic. If they really did think masks were useless with high probability then I think they missed some preexisting literature.