OAN’s Brooke Mallory
5:29 PM – Sunday, September 3, 2023
After a CNN anchor presented Dr. Anthony Fauci with a study indicating that face masks had little to no impact on the COVID-19 virus, social media users and program viewers erupted.
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While acknowledging the masking study during the Saturday program, the former White House senior medical adviser has come under fire from notable conservative opponents.
He still maintained, however, that “other research” showed that face coverings are efficient at preventing the transmission of the virus at the individual level.
“When you’re talking about the effect on the epidemic or the pandemic as a whole, the data are less strong,” Fauci admitted. “But there are other studies, Michael, that show at an individual level, for individuals,” they could be protective, he continued.
During the interview, he also emphasized that “we’re not talking about forcing anybody to do anything,” at least right now.
“Fauci admits that masks don’t work for the public at large but still absurdly claims masks work on an individual basis. More subterfuge, Sen. Ran Paul (R-Ky.), wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.
“It’s really hard to assume Fauci’s disastrous ‘mistakes’ were in good faith when he refuses to acknowledge obvious facts that don’t require a PhD to decipher. It looks a lot more like ‘TRUST THE SCIENCE!’ only applies when it suits Fauci’s personal or political narrative,” former senior White House and US Intelligence Community official Cliff Sims said.
“Fauci confronted with most definitive data analysis possible that masks make ZERO difference against Covid. Not a little, not slight- Zero. And he just mutters some numerical illiteracy bulls–t about ‘individual protection.’ He’s a fraud and a liar,” commentator Buck Sexton said.
Fauci, 82, retired from his position as the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases’ director and chief medical adviser last year.
In the very beginning of the pandemic, he had suggested that masks alone were not providing the level of protection that “people think it is” and underlined the urgent need for the public to receive mRNA vaccinations and boosters so that masks among medical personnel would not experience any further shortages.
Fauci then switched up his approach and started recommending masking to “slow the spread” when mask manufacturing increased and supply bottlenecks decreased.
This declaration sparked outrage, especially from conservatives who were enraged by the ensuing mask demands and ever-changing health guidelines.
“I don’t regret anything I said then because, in the context of the time in which I said it, it was correct. We were told in our task force meetings that we have a serious problem with the lack of PPEs and masks for the health providers who are putting themselves in harm’s way every day to take care of sick people,” Fauci told the press.
Recently, according to reports, there has been a substantial increase in COVID-19 cases across the country, raising fears about the possibility of more harsh pandemic suppression measures being reimplemented.
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