29 Feb 2020 "You do NOT need to get or wear any face masks- surgical masks, N95 masks, respirator masks, or anything else- to protect yourself against the coronavirus. Not only do you not need them, you shouldn’t wear them" web.archive.org/web/2020030107…

@YearCovid And yet now the same person says this: twitter.com/tarahaelle/sta… It's almost as if they aren't really journalists at all, but just people prepared to say whatever it is that will get them published.

@YearCovid Wow!!! In late February!! I thought the usefulness of masks was obvious by then. Of course I was dismissing masks in early Feb. This is so fascinating to look back on. Great account thanks.

@YearCovid @hradzka So many failures in messaging theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…

@YearCovid @Y2K_mindset Oh but that was just PR messaging to control access to protective gear that actually was needed. Because conspiracies are real, governments coordinate institutional behavior, and we should trust any contradictions to be purposeful cause we're geniuses and must be in on it too

@YearCovid @Robotbeat In case you don’t already follow this account I figured you would have a field day. Truly amazing (and depressing) to see the messaging evolve

@YearCovid To be fair the UK flip flopped all over the place on masks and it didn’t become a requirement until June in shops

@YearCovid Yeah, and the same applies today! You don’t wear a mask to protect yourself - you wear it to protect others. Read the article carefully.

@YearCovid This aged well

@YearCovid So much for Forbes, who published it.

@YearCovid @StuartJRitchie Following the stockpile eh. Or lack of.

@YearCovid oof, bracing for a bunch of excoriation.

@YearCovid When you follow this through, you'll end up with the infection specialist suggesting face shields for old people because "better than masks". #teamfaceshield etc Some time in late 2020 he changed his mind but did he, really.

@YearCovid Everyone wonders why we got so many Issues with wearing masks last year