CNN confronted former Covid doctor Anthony Fauci with a New York Times article citing a major study showing that masks “don’t work” to stop the spread of an airborne virus like Covid-19 . “Point.”
In the interview, CNN host Michael Smerconish gets Fauci to grudgingly admit that masks don’t stop population-level transmission, which was the justification “public health officials” used to implement the mandates of masks.
“I hope that if we do in fact get to the point where the volume of cases is such, and organizations like the CDC recommend, the CDC doesn’t mandate anything, I mean, it recommends that people wear masks, I hope they follow through on the recommendation and consider the risk to themselves and their families,” Fauci said. “And again, we’re not talking about forcing anyone to do anything.”
“Totally understood,” Smerconish replied. “There is a perception by many, I don’t know how many, that they don’t work and that the data concludes that they didn’t work the first time around. Answer that with the masks.”
“Yes,” Fauci said. “Well, that’s not the case, I mean, when you’re talking at the population level that the data is less strong than knowing that if you see a situation like an individual protecting themselves or protecting them from spreading, there’s no no doubt that the masks work. Different studies give different percentages of benefit from wearing it, but there’s no doubt that the weight of the studies, and there have been many studies, point to the benefit of wearing masks.”
“I will refer to one of them,” said Smerconish. “You’ve heard about it before. I heard about it from a series of radio calls. Brett Stephens in the Times talked about Cochrane, put it on the screen. Last month the analysis was published more rigorous and comprehensive scientific studies conducted on the effectiveness of masks in reducing the spread of respiratory diseases, including Covid-19. Its findings, said Oxford epidemiologist Tom Jefferson, who is lead author, were unequivocal. “There’s no evidence that they, the masks, make any difference.” He told reporter Maryanne Demasi, “period.” But wait, wait. What about N95 masks make a difference of lower-quality surgical or cloth masks? It makes no difference. None of that. He said, “well, what about the studies that initially persuaded policymakers to impose mask mandates? They were convinced by non-randomized studies, flawed observational studies.” How can we go beyond this finding in this particular review?”
“Yes, but there are other studies, Michael, that show at the individual level, at the individual level, when you’re talking about the effect on the epidemic or the pandemic as a whole, the data is less strong,” Fauci admitted. “But when you’re talking about on an individual basis someone who protects themselves or protects themselves from spreading to others, there’s no doubt that there are a lot of studies that show there’s an advantage. When taken at a broad population level, like the Cochrane study, the data is less firm about the effect on the global pandemic. But we’re not talking about that. We’re talking about the effect of an individual on their own safety. That’s a little different from the broad population level”.
In other words, Fauci concedes what critics of mask mandates have been saying all along: Masks do not stop the transmission of Covid in a population for a significant period of time. They may help a person in certain contexts to avoid a virus on a given occasion, but even the religious use of masks will not prevent a person from being exposed to the virus in the long term.
As editor Bret Stephens said in the New York Times:
No study, or study of studies, is ever perfect. Science is never absolutely settled. Furthermore, the analysis does not show that appropriate masks, used correctly, had no benefit at the individual level. People can have good personal reasons for wearing masks, and they can have the discipline to wear them consistently. Your choices are your own.
But when it comes to the benefits of masking at the population level, the verdict is in: mask mandates were a failure. Those skeptics who were furiously derided as cranks and occasionally censured as “disinformers” by opposing mandates were right. The leading pundits and pundits supporting the mandates were wrong. In a better world, the latter group should recognize their mistake, along with its considerable physical, psychological, pedagogical and political costs.
Here you have. The so-called “experts” ignore the scientific data that does not justify their implementation of mask mandates. Their motivation is questionable, but one thing that is beyond question is that mask mandates are tremendously damaging to public trust while providing no significant long-term public health benefits.
As the Brownstone Institute said while citing more than 170 studies showing that masks don’t work to stop airborne virus transmission, “It is unreasonable to conclude that cloth and surgical masks, used as ‘are currently used (without other forms of PPE protection), have no impact on controlling the transmission of the Covid-19 virus. Current evidence implies that masks may actually be harmful. The body of evidence indicates that masks facials are largely ineffective.”
Dr. Fauci himself achieved this early in the Covid-19 pandemic, before supporting harmful and useless mask mandates.
“The typical mask you buy at the drugstore is not really effective at keeping out the virus, which is small enough to pass through the material,” a government official admitted. “It could, however, provide a slight profit to hold[ing] remove dirty droplets if someone coughs or sneezes. I don’t recommend wearing a mask, especially since you’re going to a very low-risk place.”
If Fauci had remained consistent during the Covid-19 pandemic with this advice, there would not have been a collapse of public health confidence in his policy recommendations on masks.
NOW READ:
Fauci Fights To Rescue Failed ‘Masks Work’ Claim, But Gets Destroyed By Mega-Thread On Real ‘Science’
“*” Indicates mandatory fields
OPINION: This article contains comments that reflect the opinion of the author.
English 
Español de Venezuela