Yup, but such people are more willing participants to adhere to the rules because they are acutely feeling symptoms, and they want to be treated. In the beginning stages of this, there was more disbelief, and the true reality didn’t sink in until later. The suggestion of masks, along with guidelines/tips to make them optimally effective on both parts would have been a nice idea though.before this covid crap started if someone came into the hospital where you work coughing and sneezing would they have been asked to wear a mask to prevent spreading to others?
Some of it may have been an effort to keep masks available for frontline workers as other suggested. More in regard to the surgical masks (that were also running scarce) than N-95’s it seems. The majority of people I see out and about have the same mask I have, which is a hospital supplied surgical mask- same we have always used.
On the other hand, I have never seen the green 3M N95 mask on anybody out in the public. This is the only mask we use use, and is the one you most often see on healthcare workers on the news etc..
Alternative masks/scarfs certainly could have been addressed sooner than they were..