This is hindsight bs. We didn’t know how well the virus spread through contact/air, whatever. We didn’t know how effective masks of various kinds would be. We didn’t know how long people were contagious. The problem was people were too stupid and distrustful to be able to follow the story as it unfolded or take extra precautions while evidence was still being gathered. The idea that the scientists should have picked one approach and stuck with it in spite of evolving understanding seems to me would contribute to the distrust of institutions that was the real problem.