Dr. Fauci, when will we get our liberty back?

Bullshit. NO they weren't. I had never even heard of a N95 mask until much later in the pandemic. When most people think mask they think the surgical kind. There were plenty of those and cloth bandanas available anyway. There was no guidance to wear them because they were not very effective. It's the only explanation, if you don't see it then I feel kind of bad for you.

 

It is a mistake on your part to assume everyone else is as ignorant on the subject as you were

 

It's possible you are right, but I SERIOUSLY doubt it. If you polled 100 random Americans I'd wager less than 10 knew about wtf a N95 was before the pandemic.
However, even if there was a run on the N95 it would only take an announcement that cloth and surgical masks are effective protective measures. But they didn't do that because they knew it wasn't!! Faucci was telling the truth early on then had to come up with some bullshit lie to cover the 180. He thinks you're stupid. Unfortunately he's right about far too many.