There was too much trying to 'being right' rather than saying things that are easy to amend. The prime example is masks. Sure leave the N91 for healthcare. But don't hem and haw on whether people should use masks, if they're effective, and how so. Say we don't know for certain, but to be safe use them to protect yourself or others. Consider the upside vs down. What no one wanted to say was "we don't know, so..." Most of these problems came from upkeeping appearances. Science should not be based on appearance. On that occasion science == politics.