Throughout his tenure as the leading “expert” on the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Anthony Fauci had a bad tendency to engage in double speak when the topic of wearing face masks was thrust into the public spotlight.
For example, in the early days of the pandemic, Fauci appeared on CBS’ 60 Minutes, in which he said, “There’s no reason to be walking around with a mask.”
“While masks may block some droplets, they do not provide the level of protection people think they do,” he continued. “Wearing a mask may also have unintended consequences: People who wear masks tend to touch their face more often to adjust them, which can spread germs from their hands.”
A few days later, Fauci changed his tune, imploring Americans to wear face masks at all times, in all situations, including when they went outside. Later, he went even further, recommending that Americans wear multiple masks, calling it “commonsense” to do so.
However, we also know, thanks to the Freedom of Information Act, that Fauci sent an email on February 5, 2020 to a colleague stating, “Masks are really for infected people to prevent them from spreading infection to people who are not infected rather than protecting uninfected people from acquiring infection. The typical mask you buy in the drug store is not really effective in keeping out virus, which is small enough to pass through material. It might, however, provide some slight benefit in keep out gross droplets if someone coughs or sneezes on you. I do not recommend that you wear a mask, particularly since you are going to a very low risk location.”
Fast forward to Labor Day weekend of 2023, which brings us to Fauci’s latest face mask faux paus. During an appearance on CNN, the disgraced former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases stated unequivocally, “there is no doubt that masks work.”
Fortunately, the CNN host, Michael Smerconish, pushed back, citing a study that found wearing medical grade face masks “makes little or no difference.” Smerconish also quoted the study’s author, who told The New York Times, “There is just no evidence that they make any difference.”
This is where things got interesting.
Fauci responded that “there's no doubt that there are many studies that show that there is an advantage” to wearing face masks at the individual level. Then, in the same breath, he dropped this bombshell, “when you're talking about the effect on the epidemic or the pandemic as a whole, the data are less strong.”
Wait, what? Based on Fauci’s ludicrous statement, face masks somehow work on the individual level at preventing transmission of the virus but also have little effect on the spread of the virus at a macro level?
How can that be? It defies logic, reason, and commonsense.
Think about it. If face masks actually do thwart the spread of COVID-19 from person to person, as Fauci has claimed countless times, doesn’t that automatically translate to fewer overall cases of COVID-19, which would absolutely have an effect on the pandemic in totality?
Moreover, several health care professionals, including former Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams and Dr. Robert Redfield, former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, have reiterated that face masks are not effective in stopping transmission of COVID-19.
Yet, despite the overwhelming evidence, face mask mandates are making a comeback, as COVID-19 cases are on an upward trend again.
When asked by Smerconish about the return of mask mandates, Fauci answered coyly, “I would hope that if we get to the point that the volume of cases is such and organizations like the CDC recommends…that people wear masks, I would hope that people abide by that recommendation and take into account the risks to themselves and their families.”
Surely, Fauci knows that the American people are not inclined to go through another round of mask mandates, lockdowns, and school closures. But, based on recent events, it sure seems like the so-called experts and imbecilic politicians are on the cusp of pushing for a renewed urgency to return to the panic and hysteria that sowed the seeds for these devastating policies in the first place.
I simply hope that the vast majority of Americans see through this charade. In the early days of the pandemic, most Americans, including yours truly, went along with the mass hysteria because COVID-19 was a novel virus that we simply did not know all that much about.
But, this time is very different. We now know much more about the coronavirus, including the fact that it does not pose a threat to children. We also know that it poses little threat to healthy adults, school shutdowns did much more harm than good, unnecessary lockdowns inflicted havoc throughout our economy, and the isolation produced by these measures has wrought substantial emotional pain and spiritual suffering. And, despite Dr. Fauci’s attempts to rewrite history and his weird predilection that he “represents science,” we are fully aware that he is a demented liar who cannot be trusted.
Chris Talgo (ctalgo@heartland.org) is editorial director at The Heartland Institute.