ignoring the elephant in the room: How on earth could so many supposed smart people in positions of leadership in both government and medicine been so very wrong, or purposely misguiding people, on mask usage early on in coronavirus?

This from a recent Forbes article:

"In the U.S., in just three months, state and federal government guidelines for the general public have gone from “no need for masks” to “masks are recommended” to “masks are required.” The latter applies in a growing number of states. And so, given our predisposition as Americans to often perceive mandates from government as somehow violations of individual freedom, the U.S. has politicized the issue in a way that no other country has."

I mean - this wasn't just the president. This was the wrong message from a lot of people. Would things be different now if they had gotten what now seems obvious right from the beginning? To me that's a huge story that's gone grossly under reported.