Preliminary research published this week suggests widespread mask wearing in public could substantially reduce the spread of COVID-19. Yet it was not until April 3 that the Centers for Disease Control formally recommended that Americans wear masks in public, after two months of stating precisely the opposite. As elected officials try to understand resistance to their mask-wearing orders among some segments of the population, it is worth looking back on the CDC’s evolving guidance on the topic.
Mask-Wearing Guidance: A Timeline of Slow-to-Shift Messaging
