Like no one is telling you what to do
Use your common sense

If you wanna wear a mask who's stopping you
No one said it isn't effective, but UNLESS your gonna be around patients 12 hours a day it's not going to be MORE effective than washing your hands and upping your hygiene and personal care.
Your government probably said that because dummies are going to rely on the masks and ONLY the masks as some sort of ultimate barrier when there are other more effective preventative measures, like washing your fucking hands and covering your mouth when you sneeze and cough
The normal person is going to scratch their faces, pick their noses, use their mobile phones whilst wearing a mask which defeats the purpose of wearing one in the first place, that's why they said leave them to the people who actually need them and who are going to use them properly
No one is vilifying anyone, stop being so damn extra

And a China is in a unique position because the entire country is in lockdown