Surgeon General Defends Telling People Not to Buy Masks

Surgeon General Jerome Adams walks to the West Wing of the White House after a television interview in Washington on July 7, 2020. Win McNamee/Getty Images

For months, American public health officials urged people not to buy masks. That guidance was abruptly reversed in April.

Surgeon General Jerome Adams at one point in February said in a social media post “SERIOUSLY PEOPLE, STOP BUYING MASKS.”