Jack Barile had been waiting much of the summer for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to publish his research on the most effective way to persuade people to wear masks in a pandemic.

© Alex Edelman/AFP via Getty Images
President Donald Trump wears a mask as he visits Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., July 11, 2020.

A psychology professor at the University of Hawaii, Barile said the study he’d co-authored — which found that people are more likely to wear masks if leaders promote a “positive attitude” about them — was stuck in the federal review process. The agency and the White House, it seemed, were “slow-walking critical research without clear explanation,” Barile said.

Then, just days before the study by Barile and his co-authors was finally scheduled to publish, Barile was walking to the park scrolling through the latest headlines on his