"Dr. Anthony Fauciāand this is not meant as criticismāhas epitomized the public-health diagnostic process with multiple, incorrect, early pronouncements: In January and February, he downplayed the risk of person-to-person spread; he expressed doubt that asymptomatic people could transmit the virus; in late February, he reassured the public that, āat this moment, there is no need to change anything that youāre doing on a day-by-day basisā; and in March, like many other public-health officials here and abroad, he said that, outside of health-care personnel, ordinary people should not wear masks . In fact, both Fauci and Surgeon General Jerome Adams suggested that mask-wearing could increase a personās risk of being infected. All these assertions proved wrong." Joel Zinberg in City Journal: https://www.city-journal.org/science-of-covid-19-policy-choices