The people responsible at the health department could be wrong, as they are just employees, and could be misinformed/ill-trained. It is a speculative theory, and the official statement empathize that the singular most important thing people should do is is to stay at home if they are sick. The medical benefits of mask for people without symptoms is not clear (but I would be interesting to read research if someone can link that), and there is a supply demand right now to get mask to those groups that really need them.
It is not a black and white issue of seat belt where there is ample proven evidence that in basically any car crash a seat belt is better than no seat belt. There is no shortage of seat belts, nor has there ever been one. The focus of car safety has also primarily focused on speed, where the survivable limit goes up if the driver has a seat belt, but even that higher limit is still much lower than the speed of many drivers. Thus the message there is to inform drivers the importance of both the benefit of seat belts, but also the critical message that speed more or less determine if a person is going to live or die. Even if people would risk compensate and go from the survivable speed without seat belt and increase their speed to survivable speed with seat belt, it would still be lower than what many people already drive their cars at. The worst case scenario of seat belts would thus be an improvement. We can not say the same thing about social distancing, where going out sick with a mask on is still a very bad idea.
Thus the recommendation from the health department is right now that masks should go to those in risk groups and people who are sick should stay home. If research later show that people without symptoms reduces risk of infecting others by wearing a medical mask, and the supply of masks increases, then they will likely change their recommendation based on the changed situation and facts.
(Small meta comment, but it is interesting how skeptical people are of the medical department that is responsible for handling the pandemic. It is true that critical questioning any government recommendation is useful, but maybe a bit more open minded discussion would be better).
It is not a black and white issue of seat belt where there is ample proven evidence that in basically any car crash a seat belt is better than no seat belt. There is no shortage of seat belts, nor has there ever been one. The focus of car safety has also primarily focused on speed, where the survivable limit goes up if the driver has a seat belt, but even that higher limit is still much lower than the speed of many drivers. Thus the message there is to inform drivers the importance of both the benefit of seat belts, but also the critical message that speed more or less determine if a person is going to live or die. Even if people would risk compensate and go from the survivable speed without seat belt and increase their speed to survivable speed with seat belt, it would still be lower than what many people already drive their cars at. The worst case scenario of seat belts would thus be an improvement. We can not say the same thing about social distancing, where going out sick with a mask on is still a very bad idea.
Thus the recommendation from the health department is right now that masks should go to those in risk groups and people who are sick should stay home. If research later show that people without symptoms reduces risk of infecting others by wearing a medical mask, and the supply of masks increases, then they will likely change their recommendation based on the changed situation and facts.
(Small meta comment, but it is interesting how skeptical people are of the medical department that is responsible for handling the pandemic. It is true that critical questioning any government recommendation is useful, but maybe a bit more open minded discussion would be better).