“The CDC does not mandate anything,” says Dr. Anthony Fauci. But if a Covid surge leads to a recommendation that people wear masks, “I hope they would abide by the recommendation and take into account the risks to themselves and to their families. We are not talking about forcing anybody to do anything.”
That was only N95 masks which are the ideal ones to use but not even close to the ones a majority of people used even after the mandate. Telling people not to mask at all is not the same thing as saying “use cloth masks so that n95 masks can be preserved for healthcare workers”.