Former Deputy National Security Adviser Matt Pottinger says health experts made a “big mistake” in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic by not encouraging Americans to wear face coverings and claiming they were not effective.
In an interview with CBS’ Margaret Brennan that aired on Sunday, Pottinger said officials “misjudged the nature” of the coronavirus “to think that it was like flu.”
“One of the mistakes that followed on from that was the misjudgment by public health officials in this country to not advocate for the widespread generalized use of face coverings,” Pottinger said.
He explained that health experts were “rightly” concerned that there would be shortages of face coverings because the bulk of the mask-making supply chains were in China. He claimed that Chinese officials were “not making it easy for us to get access to additional supplies.”
He said that not advocating for the use of face coverings was “understandable” due to the fears of shortages.
However, he took issue with “a set of advice” from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that claimed that face coverings were not effective at preventing the spread of the virus for the “general public.”
“That was a big mistake,” he added.
Watch the video below:
MASK MISTAKES: Matt Pottinger tells @margbrennan the @cdcgov made a "big mistake" by not advocating for the widespread use of face coverings early on in #COVID19's presence. pic.twitter.com/O2xV8kDwiu
— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) February 21, 2021
He argued, “The mask misstep cost us dearly. It was the one tool that was widely available… it was the one effective, widely available tool that we had in the arsenal to deal with this. It was a grave misstep.”
Early in the pandemic, the nation’s top infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci told Americans that masks would not be effective in preventing the spread of the virus.
“There’s no reason to be walking around with a mask. When you’re in the middle of an outbreak, wearing a mask might make people feel a little bit better, and it might even block a droplet, but it’s not providing the perfect protection that people think that it is,” he said on March 8.
He added, “And, often, there are unintended consequences — people keep fiddling with the mask, and they keep touching their face.”
However, health officials now recommend wearing masks to help stop curb the spread of the virus.
The CDC website encourages Americans over the age of two to wear masks. The agency’s guidance on the issue says that masks “are a simple barrier to help prevent your respiratory droplets from reaching other.”
“You should wear a mask, even if you do not feel sick. This is because several studies have found that people with COVID-19 who never develop symptoms (asymptomatic) and those who are not yet showing symptoms (pre-symptomatic) can still spread the virus to other people. Wearing a mask helps protect those around you, in case you are infected but not showing symptoms,” it adds.
Fauci has also endorsed mask-wearing and says he initially told Americans that face coverings were not effective because he was concerned about shortages.
President Joe Biden has challenged Americans to practice mask-wearing for at least his first 100-days in office.
Pottinger’s comments come as more than 490,000 Americans have died from the virus since last year.