As far as I can tell, the CDC hasn’t uttered a literal lie about this
They definitely haven’t written down a literal lie. A lot of newsarticlessay or implyone though, and people are walking away with the impression the CDC has anti-recommended masks. A friend has suggested they’re more actively discouraging masks in press conferences, but I couldn’t find proof so I left that out.
It’s certainly possible that uninformed usage of masks is net-negative, and that it’s not possible to inform the general public of correct usage. I haven’t seen any evidence of that though. Meanwhile, China is requiring them.
To be clear, China started requiring mask usage, but also put in place price controls on masks, and limited mask purchases to 2 per week. Then they ensured that companies were building factories almost overnight to mass produce them. These might be good ideas, but as with many other things, it’s not within CDC’s abilities to do, so I think it’s reasonable for the CDC to do what it can to actually reduce risks.
And “don’t trust CDC because they haven’t lied but they didn’t advise things that might help but would be harmful overall to the public” is one hell of a take.
They definitely haven’t written down a literal lie. A lot of news articles say or imply one though, and people are walking away with the impression the CDC has anti-recommended masks. A friend has suggested they’re more actively discouraging masks in press conferences, but I couldn’t find proof so I left that out.
It’s certainly possible that uninformed usage of masks is net-negative, and that it’s not possible to inform the general public of correct usage. I haven’t seen any evidence of that though. Meanwhile, China is requiring them.
To be clear, China started requiring mask usage, but also put in place price controls on masks, and limited mask purchases to 2 per week. Then they ensured that companies were building factories almost overnight to mass produce them. These might be good ideas, but as with many other things, it’s not within CDC’s abilities to do, so I think it’s reasonable for the CDC to do what it can to actually reduce risks.
And “don’t trust CDC because they haven’t lied but they didn’t advise things that might help but would be harmful overall to the public” is one hell of a take.