If you have them...

Are you referring to how the US Surgeon General told everyone masks didn’t work or something else?

It wasn’t simple. Next time, it will be important to be transparent about the tradeoffs of different types of material, and any need to route masks towards certain sectors being temporary. The strategy to feed the public a series of simplified messages was harmful from a public health perspective and sets the next pandemic response up for unnecessary challenges. All this is compatible with mandatory mask wearing, too.

The rhetoric from the public about masks being simple and obvious had the same problem on the friends-and-family scale.

In France a government official was explaining (while France had supply shortages) that masks required complex training to wear properly, and she herself did not know how to wear one, and so were useless to most people.

A few weeks later an emergency law was passed and you would receive a fine if not wearing them.

Similar situation in many countries.