3 ms·

He was clearly dissuading widespread mask use back in March, but what he said specifically was: "There’s no reason to be walking around with a mask. When you’re

He was clearly dissuading widespread mask use back in March, but what he said specifically was: "There’s no reason to be walking around with a mask. When you’re in the middle of an outbreak, wearing a mask might make people feel a little bit better and it might even block a droplet, but it’s not providing the perfect protection that people think that it is. And, often, there are unintended consequences — people keep fiddling with the mask and they keep touching their face." - Dr Fauci, March 8, 60 Minutes [0] I do wish he'd said, instead, that masks provide asymmetric protection -- protecting the wearer less than protecting others from the wearer, and that ideally everyone would wear masks to protect each other, but that there were extreme shortages, and that first responders needed to be the priority for now. Or, something that included enough information to remain straightforwardly valid over time despite the situational dynamics. edit -- in a July 15 interview with InStyle magazine [1] he said: "I don't regret anything I said then because in the context of the time in which I said it, it was correct..." "When it became clear that the infection could be spread by asymptomatic carriers who don't know they're infected, that made it very clear that we had to strongly recommend masks." [0] https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-factcheck-fauci-outdated-video-masks/fact-checkoutdated-video-of-fauci-saying-theres-no-reason-to-be-walking-around-with-a-mask-idUSKBN26T2TR https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-factcheck-fauci-outdated-... [1] https://www.instyle.com/news/dr-fauci-says-with-all-due-modesty-i-think-im-pretty-effective https://www.instyle.com/news/dr-fauci-says-with-all-due-mode...

JackFr 6y ago
Please stop. He was understandably trying to prevent people from buying and using surgical masks because there was a dangerously limited supply. When the supply was secure he advocated masking. It’s this sort of talking around the issue, Jesuitical hair splitting rather than conceding what is manifest that makes discussing this so frustrating.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- js2 6y ago
  Please stop. You could have quoted his exact words so that we can each form our own opinion. You didn't, apparently because you have your own interpretation that you wish to promote here. I appreciate skygazer quoting his exact words so that I can form my own opinion. It happens to differ from yours. The world isn't black and white. New information is obtained. Sometimes experts have to change their recommendations. I, personally, do not believe Fauci was lying on 60 minutes. I think he was making a recommendation based on the information he had at the time. Soon after, that changed. He changed his recommendation.
  - natmaka 6y ago
    In this spirit it may be interesting to quote his newer (changed) recommendation.
    - js2 6y ago
      Fair enough. https://www.thestreet.com/video/dr-fauci-masks-changing-directive-coronavirus https://www.thestreet.com/video/dr-fauci-masks-changing-dire... > JUN 12, 2020 > "Masks are not 100% protective. However, they certainly are better than not wearing a mask. Both to prevent you, if you happen to be a person who may feel well, but has an asymptomatic infection that you don't even know about, to prevent you from infecting someone else," said Fauci. "But also, it can protect you a certain degree, not a hundred percent, in protecting you from getting infected from someone who, either is breathing, or coughing, or sneezing, or singing or whatever it is in which the droplets or the aerosols go out. So masks work." > So, why weren't we told to wear masks in the beginning? > "Well, the reason for that is that we were concerned the public health community, and many people were saying this, were concerned that it was at a time when personal protective equipment, including the N95 masks and the surgical masks, were in very short supply. And we wanted to make sure that the people namely, the health care workers, who were brave enough to put themselves in a harm way, to take care of people who you know were infected with the coronavirus and the danger of them getting infected."
      - natmaka 6y ago
        Thank you! IMHO this new quote is more adequately resumed by "He was understandably trying to prevent people from buying and using surgical masks because there was a dangerously limited supply. When the supply was secure he advocated masking." than by "New information is obtained. Sometimes experts have to change their recommendations". >...> when people in authority tell you that they had, or perhaps still have to, lie to you “for your own good” — that’s not a hallmark of a free society. True and well put.
refurb 6y ago
I’ve never seen someone torture a statement so hard to make it say what they want it to say. Yikes!
curlypaul924 6y ago
Reading that now is different from how I remember it. At the time I thought he was saying that there were so few cases in most of the country that it didn't make sense for everyone to be wearing masks yet. It seemed inevitable to me that we'd all be wearing masks in a few months given how things turned out with SARS. But if your quote is accurate then it seems I was applying my own bias to what was being said.

JackFr 6y ago

Please stop. He was understandably trying to prevent people from buying and using surgical masks because there was a dangerously limited supply. When the supply was secure he advocated masking. It’s this sort of talking around the issue, Jesuitical hair splitting rather than conceding what is manifest that makes discussing this so frustrating.

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
js2 6y ago
Please stop. You could have quoted his exact words so that we can each form our own opinion. You didn't, apparently because you have your own interpretation that you wish to promote here. I appreciate skygazer quoting his exact words so that I can form my own opinion. It happens to differ from yours. The world isn't black and white. New information is obtained. Sometimes experts have to change their recommendations. I, personally, do not believe Fauci was lying on 60 minutes. I think he was making a recommendation based on the information he had at the time. Soon after, that changed. He changed his recommendation.
- natmaka 6y ago
  In this spirit it may be interesting to quote his newer (changed) recommendation.
  - js2 6y ago
    Fair enough. https://www.thestreet.com/video/dr-fauci-masks-changing-directive-coronavirus https://www.thestreet.com/video/dr-fauci-masks-changing-dire... > JUN 12, 2020 > "Masks are not 100% protective. However, they certainly are better than not wearing a mask. Both to prevent you, if you happen to be a person who may feel well, but has an asymptomatic infection that you don't even know about, to prevent you from infecting someone else," said Fauci. "But also, it can protect you a certain degree, not a hundred percent, in protecting you from getting infected from someone who, either is breathing, or coughing, or sneezing, or singing or whatever it is in which the droplets or the aerosols go out. So masks work." > So, why weren't we told to wear masks in the beginning? > "Well, the reason for that is that we were concerned the public health community, and many people were saying this, were concerned that it was at a time when personal protective equipment, including the N95 masks and the surgical masks, were in very short supply. And we wanted to make sure that the people namely, the health care workers, who were brave enough to put themselves in a harm way, to take care of people who you know were infected with the coronavirus and the danger of them getting infected."
    - natmaka 6y ago
      Thank you! IMHO this new quote is more adequately resumed by "He was understandably trying to prevent people from buying and using surgical masks because there was a dangerously limited supply. When the supply was secure he advocated masking." than by "New information is obtained. Sometimes experts have to change their recommendations". >...> when people in authority tell you that they had, or perhaps still have to, lie to you “for your own good” — that’s not a hallmark of a free society. True and well put.

refurb 6y ago

I’ve never seen someone torture a statement so hard to make it say what they want it to say. Yikes!

curlypaul924 6y ago

Reading that now is different from how I remember it. At the time I thought he was saying that there were so few cases in most of the country that it didn't make sense for everyone to be wearing masks yet. It seemed inevitable to me that we'd all be wearing masks in a few months given how things turned out with SARS. But if your quote is accurate then it seems I was applying my own bias to what was being said.