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Tucker Carlson claimed Monday that the federal government has not been forthright about the supply of crucial N95 medical masks amid the coronavirus outbreak.

"In any crisis, trust is critical -- the government can't coordinate a national response if the public doesn't believe what it says and doesn't believe the government is looking out for its best interest," the "Tucker Carlson Tonight" host said. "That's why honesty is essential at times like this. When the government lies, people know.

"From the beginning of the Chinese coronavirus epidemic, mask shortages have been a major problem. Some people hoarded hundreds of thousands of them and manufacturers couldn't keep up."

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According to Carlson, federal officials initially told Americans not to buy masks because they wouldn't prevent healthy people from contracting the virus, rather than simply admitting health professionals were facing critical shortages.

He cited a Feb. 29 tweet from Surgeon General Jerome Adams, who wrote: "Seriously, people -- STOP BUYING MASKS! They are NOT effective in preventing the general public from catching #Coronavirus, but if healthcare [sic] providers can't get them to care for sick patients it puts them and our communities at risk!"

Carlson added that the CDC and mainstream media backed Adams' assertion.

Quoting a CNN report from the same day as Adams' tweet, Carlson read: "The CDC says that healthy people in the U.S. should not wear them because they won't protect them from the novel coronavirus. In fact, facemasks might actually increase your risk for infection if they aren't worn properly, but medical workers who treat patients ... do need them."

The host went on to quote a March 4 Time.com headline from earlier this month that read: "Health experts are telling healthy people not to wear face masks for coronavirus. So why are so many doing it?"

"The article suggested believing in masks [is] some kind of superstition like not walking under ladders or being afraid of black cats," Carlson said. "It's insulting. It's ridiculous."

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In addition, Carlson said, the claim that the masks only work for health care professionals, but not for healthy civilians is baffling, since the pandemic has no regard for people's occupation.

"So look, we understand there's a shortage of masks," Carlson concluded, addressing the federal government. "We understand only certain people should get them because it's a triage moment, we get it. But stop lying to us."