[Oldcolt]

Originally Posted by IndyNorm

Masks became politicized b/c the experts in the US (and by experts I mean Dr. Adams, Dr. Fauchi, etc.; not Trump) royally fucked up by initially telling us that masks wouldn't really help and in some cases (Dr. Adams) urged the population not to purchase them. Then a ~month into it they pulled a 180 and started telling everyone to wear them. There should have been enough data between Asian countries that handled the outbreak well (Japan, Taiwan) and European countries that didn't (Italy, France) for our experts to have known that wearing masks were a good idea.

With that being said, wearing a mask and keeping your distance from people outside your home are pretty easy asks (although I have yet to find a mask that doesn't fog up my glasses; fortunately I can get by pretty well without them), and we should all be following those recommendations/mandates until this is over with.

Science changes when new facts emerge. Europe also was told no mask initially. When evidence that masks worked became obvious they changed their policy without any political issues. We have issues because the guy running the country needs division and doesn't put his full weight behind the wearing of masks.