I will say that the CDC really stepped in it with the "you don't need masks" message in the beginning. The message should have been, "Hey, we are pulling masks from the shelves for healthcare workers. Be careful out there until they are available. Here's how to make something at home that is better than nothing." The race to create a natural origin narrative was idiotic as well. People are stupid, beyond stupid, but I don't blame them for not trusting the CDC or the FDA. The FDA is a bad joke for more reasons than one can count. If they cared about health, they might actually address the fact that we subsidize colored sugar garbage instead of food, or let the opioid epidemic reach such staggering proportions. The CDC and FDA are clearly not outcomes based organizations.