> "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 O'Donnell.
> "When it became clear that the infection could be spread by asymptomatic carriers who don't know they're infected, that made it very clear that we had to strongly recommend masks," he said.
> "And also, it soon became clear that we had enough protective equipment and that cloth masks and homemade masks were as good as masks that you would buy from surgical supply stores," Fauci added. "So in the context of when we were not strongly recommending it, it was the correct thing."
[1] https://www.businessinsider.com/fauci-doesnt-regret-advising...
"Right now in the United States, people should not be walking around with masks"
"There’s no reason to be walking around with a mask. 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. And, often, there are unintended consequences — people keep fiddling with the mask and they keep touching their face." - Dr Fauci, March 8th 2020
Ah, the old classic. Should we start by cutting off a pinky? Or maybe bamboo splinters, for an international flavor?
He has been clear that he was speaking before transmissibility was known. First there was "no reason," then there was a reason. It's not hard, if you're not trying to intentionally misrepresent his words for some reason.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XHC5Kxxv_w
“…when people were saying you don’t really need to wear a mask well the reason for that is that we were concerned the public health community and many people were saying this were concerned that it was at a time when personal protective equipment including the N95 masks and the surgical masks were in very short supply and we wanted to make sure that the people namely the health care workers who were brave enough to put themselves in a harm ways to take care of people who you know are infected with the corona virus and the danger of them getting infected we did not want them to be without the equipment that they needed so there was not enthusiasm about going out and everybody buying a mask or getting a mask we were afraid that that would deter away and the people who really needed it”
Fauci has said that he deliberately lied to people because he was afraid masks would be in short supply.