I do not recall her exact words, or the words of any of the staff. She could very well have said something to that effect, but I do not know. The problem with social media and places like this is many people play fast and loose with the facts. Sometimes, they repeat what they've read or heard elsewhere.
Edited to add:
I did a quick search. This video is from 2 years ago. At 18 seconds in she talks about the public wearing masks. She does say that they "can be flexible if we find any new evidence" WRT wearing a mask. In this interview, she did say that they would change if needed.
https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/1717905987907That’s all fine and well, but the part I was focused on is the overly-strong factual claims rather than saying “we don’t know for sure yet”.
At 47 seconds in the video you posted: “putting a mask on an asymptomatic person is not beneficial, obviously”.
That's what they thought at the time. It's impossible for me to say.
There have been times when what science thought was incontrovertible proved not to be so. The earth is flat. There were sea monsters that swallowed ships, etc. While what Tam said wasn't right, she did correct herself. I put this down to being accepting of change and modifying the message based on new information.
As a physicist, I am a member of the scientific community, and interact with other scientists on a daily basis. I'll say it again, one of the characteristics of every great scientist that I've ever met is that they are objective seekers of truth, and are hesitant to make a strong claim unless it's based on overwhelming evidence. Being in the public spotlight, as Tam is, subjects a person's statements to a higher-than-normal level of healthy scrutiny, and should make a person even more cautious about the claims that they make and upon which policy decisions are based.
