Previous Surgeon General Jerome Adams is not the same person as Fauci.
I'm not in the USA, but looks like your surgeon general in Feb 2020 was not an ideal choice for the post. He sounds like a political Trump appointee.
Even so, the full tweet read:
"Seriously people- STOP BUYING MASKS!
They are NOT effective in preventing general public from catching #Coronavirus, but if healthcare providers can't get them to care for sick patients, it puts them and our communities at risk!"
...so it sounds like he was quite upfront about the idea that mask use was partly being discouraged to avoid pressure on sourcing masks for medical professionals.
In grandparent post you stated "There seemed to be genuine uncertainty early on in the pandemic about whether masks would be helpful".
In this post you are stating "mask use was partly being discouraged to avoid pressure on sourcing masks for medical professionals".
So which is it? Were they recommending against mask use because masks are not helpful, or were they recommending against mask use because masks are so helpful that we actually need to conserve them for medical professionals? Which is it?
If you're going to lie, at least make up a consistent story.
Masks are clearly going to be more effective when used by trained personnel in a clinical setting. For example, removing masks using gloves and disinfecting hands before touching faces. There isn't necessarily a contradiction here in thinking masks could be effective for medical personnel but not the public. Although, as I have already said, I think they made a mistake.
> If you're going to lie
If you don't have the wit or politeness to enter a discussion without throwing insults around please find another forum to argue on.
- Surgeon General, Feb 29, 2020
Please stop spreading misinformation.