I just joined so that I can share something I've been working on the past few months: a comprehensive timeline of everything the CDC, Dr. Fauci, and other medical professionals have said about face masks preventing COVID-19. I started making a record of all this when I noticed not only discrepancies, but also blatant censorship, both of which will be apparent as you read through it. I've being seen several of these sources float around, but never all of them in one post and codified into a linear timeline, so here it is:
Feb 12, 2020
The Center for Disease Control (CDC) “does not currently recommend the use of face masks for the general public.”[1]
Feb 27, 2020
CDC tweets “CDC does not currently recommend the use of facemasks to help prevent novel #coronavirus.”[2]
Feb 29, 2020
US Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams tweets “[masks] are NOT effective in preventing general public from catching #Coronavirus, but if healthcare providers can’t get them to care for sick patients, it puts them and our communities at risk!”[3]
Mar 8, 2020
Dr. Anthony Fauci tells 60 Minutes “right now in the United States, people should not be walking around with masks…it’s not providing the perfect protection that people think it is…you should think of healthcare providers needing them and people who are ill…it can lead to a shortage of masks”[4]
Mar 28, 2020
Dr. Matthew McCarthy tweets “CDC guidance on masks expected to change in next 10 days. Americans will be advised to wear masks in everyday life. Current recommendation is for high-risk groups only.” CDC replies to Dr. McCarthy, saying “CDC does not have updated guidance scheduled to come out on this topic. See current CDC guidance regarding the use of facemasks:” and links to their website, which says “if you are NOT sick: You do not need to wear a facemask unless you are caring for someone who is sick (and they are not able to wear a facemask). Facemasks may be in short supply and they should be saved for caregivers.”[5][6]
Mar 31, 2020
Dr. Robert Redfield, Director of the CDC, says that healthy people should not wear masks.[7]
Surgeon General tells Fox News "We are looking at the data every single day...What the WHO and CDC have reaffirmed in the last few days is that they do not recommend the general public wear masks...There was a study in 2015 looking at medical students...wearing surgical masks...touched their face on average 23 times...wearing a mask improperly can actually increase your risk of getting disease."[8]
Apr 1, 2020
The Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP) publishes an article suggesting masks are ineffective, saying “cloth masks exhibit very low filter efficiency.”[9]
Surgeon General tells ABC News “initially the CDC, the World Health Organization, and my office recommended against the general public wearing masks based on the best available science at the time…we’ve learned there is a fair amount of asymptomatic spread, and so we’ve asked the CDC to take another look at whether or not having more people wear masks will prevent transmission of the disease to other people.”[10]
Apr 3, 2020
CDC makes a thread of tweets, saying “in light of new evidence, CDC recommends wearing cloth face coverings to slow spread of #COVID19 in public settings...the cloth face coverings recommended to slow spread of #COVID19 are not surgical masks or N-95 respirators. Those critical supplies must continue to be reserved for healthcare workers and other medical first responders…”[11]
Surgeon General says "we found that there are a significant number of people who have asymptomatic spread of the virus, so the CDC changed its recommendations today and they now suggest the general public consider wearing masks..."[12]
Dr. Fauci says “people who are without symptoms at all can transmit the virus, but importantly, they can do it merely by speaking…putting a mask on yourself is more to prevent you from infecting someone else.”[13]
Apr 4, 2020
CDC updates their website with “Everyone should wear a cloth face cover when they have to go out in public…Do NOT use a facemask meant for a healthcare worker.”[14]
Apr 12, 2020
A study finds that “out of 158 respondents [healthcare workers], 128 (81.0%) respondents developed de novo PPE-associated headaches.”[15]
Apr 16, 2020
A study concludes “evidence from 14 randomized controlled trials of these measures did not support a substantial effect on transmission of laboratory-confirmed influenza.”[16]
Apr 22, 2020
CDC tweets “given the shortage of N95 respirators during this global outbreak of #COVID19, it’s important to understand the difference between N95 respirators and surgical masks…”[17]
Surgeon General says during another briefing "now that we know 25 to 50% of people are spreading asymptomatically, we suggest people wear cloth facial coverings."[18]
May 9, 2020
Mayo Health Clinic tweets an article discouraging people from wearing N95 respirator masks w/ filters.[19]
May 23, 2020
Surgeon General tweets “on masks, I’ve always advised on best current science- never politics…I’m ASKING…that you CHOOSE to wear a mask in public…”[20]
Jun 18, 2020
Why Face Masks Don’t Work: A Revealing Review, is still available as it has been since its publication in Oct 2016.[21]
Jul 2, 2020
Why Face Masks Don’t Work: A Revealing Review returns a 404 error.[22]
Jul 10, 2020
Why Face Masks Don’t Work: A Revealing Review is updated by the publishing site with the message “if you are looking for ‘Why Face Masks Don’t Work: A Revealing Review’…it has been removed. The content was published in 2016 and is no longer relevant in our current climate."[23]
Jul 15, 2020
Dr. Redfield says “if everyone…wear a cloth face covering for the next 4 to 6 weeks, we can get the #COVID19 epidemic under control.”[24]
Jul 16, 2020
CIDRAP adds an editor’s note on their article from Apr 1 saying “the authors and CIDRAP have received requests in recent weeks to remove this article…In summary, though we support mask wearing by the general public, we continue to conclude that cloth masks and face coverings are likely to have limited impact on lowering COVID-19 transmission.”[25]
Jul 21, 2020
The tweet from the Mayo Health Clinic on May 9 is trending on Twitter.[26]
Jul 22, 2020
A study is published saying “the filtration effectiveness of cloth masks is generally lower than that of medical masks and respirators; however, cloth masks may provide some protection if well designed and used correctly. Multilayer cloth masks, designed to fit around the face and made of water-resistant fabric with a high number of threads and finer weave, may provide reasonable protection. Until a cloth mask design is proven to be equally effective as a medical or N95 mask, wearing cloth masks should not be mandated for healthcare workers.”[27]
Aug 30, 2020
CDC posts on Facebook “cloth masks that are used to slow the spread of COVID-19 offer little protection against wildfire smoke. They do not catch small particles found in wildfire smoke that can harm your health”.[28]
Sep 16, 2020
Dr. Redfield says a mask offers more guaranteed protection than a vaccine.[29]
Oct 17, 2020
Scott W. Atlas, an advisor on the White House Coronavirus Task Force, tweets “masks work? NO”, but soon after, the tweet is deleted by Twitter.[30]
Oct 18, 2020
ADM Brett P. Giroir, Assistant Secretary for Health, tweets “#Masks work? YES!”, which has not been removed.[31]
Dr. Fauci tells 60 Minutes “cloth coverings...not necessarily a surgical mask or an N95...work, so now there's no longer a shortage of masks”[32]
As exhaustive as this is, it's not complete. There are other sources I want to include, but have not investigated them enough to add them, and I wanted to bring this public as soon as possible. I'll try to add more either by editing the post, or if not possible, in the comments below as time goes on.