CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins confronted former White House chief senior medical adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci on Wednesday’s “CNN This Morning” regarding his “striking” previous remarks on mask mandates.
Fauci, the most prominent voice supporting mask mandates, said Monday that masks only work at a margin of “maybe 10 percent.” This is a major shift from his previous claims during the height of the pandemic that national mask mandates worked in protecting Americans against COVID-19.
“That comment saying they ‘work at the margins maybe 10 percent I think’ would raise a lot of eyebrows given so many people had to wear a mask, whether they were on a plane, whether they were in certain public facilities,” Collins, a former Daily Caller reporter, said. “To hear that they only work at the margins maybe 10 percent would make a lot of people ask, ok then why was I wearing a mask for so many times?”
“You know, Kaitlan, you got to be careful because if you read very carefully what I said, if you look at the broad public health effect, when you have masks that are so-called mandated or supposed to be worn, because so many people don’t wear them even though they’re in an arena in which masks are supposed to be worn or they don’t wear them properly, from a public health standpoint, on the cohort of people, the effect can only be marginal, and as we mentioned it was 10-13 percent or so,” Fauci said.
He then said that individuals who “religiously” wear masks have a stronger effect of 85 to 90 percent. However, they are not worn by most of the nation which makes them less effective. (RELATED: ‘Weaponized Against Me’: Fauci Tries To Defend Inconsistent Record On ‘Herd Immunity’)
“In hindsight, though, when you look at this, do you think the mask mandates were a mistake?” Collins asked.
“You know, Kaitlan, I don’t want to say a mistake,” he answered. “But I think we need to remember next time we’re confronted with this that when you have a situation when there’s doubt in the minds of some people about whether something works or not, we better try to reach out and be a better explainer on why we feel these things are important, because whenever, and particularly in our country where there are free spirit, which we all embrace, people being told what to do often has the opposite effect. That’s what I was referring to in that interview.”
Fauci often shifted his positions on mandates throughout the pandemic. He accused states of lifting the mandates of inviting another surge of the virus, and continuously urged children in schools to be masked. In June 2022, he admitted that mask mandates for travel mandate were about public health officials maintaining as much power as possible.