The point is not buying them anymore, yes, discouraging those who already have them not to wear them though seems a bit foolish, given that they are proven to reduce droplet spread and intake - depending on the mask.

Obviously, with the current situation, a lot of people have them - either from panic buying them or from even before all of this started. My dad had a pack of 3M FFP2 masks stored that he uses for grinding and other handy work that produces particulate matter.

Telling those people not to wear them in case they do have to get out of the house seems irresponsible and extra-wasteful. Maybe an initiative to donate them to hospitals or something and prohibit resale to non-medical facilities would make sense, but the current communication doesn‘t to me.

Or do I miss some important factor?