Things could have been managed far, far better from multiple people, agencies and officials than has been done.

After you're told this and that and those people say this and that person says "Aw, BS" and an agency says Do THIS! but later says Do THAT!, and throw in peer pressure and distrust in government, and the fact that a lot of people think it's fake and also WebMD "is just as good as them so-called experts" and finally we're the USA and have freedom of choice ... it all makes for a tremendously bad stew.

I don't believe the Surgeon General or Fauci or CDC are bad. I think they said what they believed at the time was the best information. I'm sure pressure was brought to bear from above for them to change, tone down or "don't be negative" about it - and that's terrible, to put image over safety. But every presidential administration has done that for decades. Nothing new. Manage and spin.

But when the public repeatedly hears and sees more flip-flopping than at the beach, it eventually loses trust and interest, and makes its own decisions.