National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Director Dr. Anthony Fauci on Sunday said mask-wearing could become a seasonal phenomenon aimed at preventing the spread of other airborne illnesses, like the flu.
“At what point can we stop wearing masks outside? At what point, if vaccinated people get together, do you take the masks off?” NBC News’ Chuck Todd asked. “But is the mask going to be something we have with us in a seasonal aspect?”
“You know, I think that’s quite possible. People have gotten used to wearing masks. Clearly, if you look at the data, [a mask] diminishes respiratory diseases,” Fauci replied. “We’ve had practically a non-existent flu season this year merely because people were doing the kinds of public health things that were directed predominantly against COVID-19.”
According to the NIAID head, Australia’s flu numbers also plummeted during winter predominantly because of mask-wearing.
“So it is conceivable that as we go on, a year or two or more from now, that during certain seasonal periods when you have respiratory-borne viruses like the flu, people might actually elect to wear masks to diminish the likelihood that you’ll spread these respiratory-borne diseases,” Fauci explained.
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Dr. Fauci has repeatedly flip-flopped throughout the pandemic. As The Daily Wire previously reported, the NIAID head said in March 2020 that face coverings were not necessary for the general public.
“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,” Fauci said at the time.
A month later in April 2020, he supported mask-wearing, along with the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), The Daily Wire reported at the time. Later in the summer of 2020, however, Fauci was caught without a mask on at a baseball game.
In January 2021, Fauci said a single mask doesn’t go far enough. In fact, he encouraged “double-masking,” where a person wears a surgical mask with a cloth mask on top.
“If you have a physical covering with one layer, you put another layer on it, just makes common sense that it likely would be more effective,” Dr. Fauci said, according to an earlier report from The Daily Wire.
The CDC issued new guidelines on mask-wearing at the end of April, saying those who “fully vaccinated” no longer need to wear masks outdoors, The Daily Wire reported. Since then, the Biden administration’s COVID-19 response coordinator, Jeff Zients, said the government will “allow” fully vaccinated Americans to remove their masks.
“I think everyone is tired, and wearing a mask is — it can be a pain but we’re getting there,” Ziets told CNN’s Jake Tapper, according to a report from The Daily Wire. “And the light at the end of the tunnel is brighter and brighter. Let’s keep up our guard. Let’s follow the CDC guidance. And the CDC guidance across time will allow vaccinated people more and more privileges to take off that mask.”
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Source: Dailywire
