"At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Fauci originally discouraged mask-wearing by the public because he was concerned about PPE availability for health-care workers. “We didn’t realize the extent of asymptotic spread…what happened as the weeks and months came by, two things became clear: one, that there wasn’t a shortage of masks, we had plenty of masks and coverings that you could put on that’s plain cloth…so that took care of that problem. Secondly, we fully realized that there are a lot of people who are asymptomatic who are spreading infection. So it became clear that we absolutely should be wearing masks consistently.” Source
Fucking exactly. He was wrong, and he admitted it and corrected himself when he realized he was wrong. Like, Fauci is far from perfect, sure, but this isn’t some striking condemnation of him and all his other work.
Compared to a certain orange clown whose vocal cords I’m pretty sure don’t have the ability to make the sounds for “I was wrong” or “sorry”.
He was wrong, and he admitted it and corrected himself when he realized he was wrong. Like, Fauci is far from perfect, sure, but this isn’t some striking condemnation of him and all his other work.
this stuff is really a non-story but i actually think you’re being too kind. i remember reading articles with chinese scientists repeatedly warning other countries about the dangers of the virus & what should be done to help prevent transmission while we learn about it. fauci ignored it and made his own conclusions, which is unsurprising given his past.
back in the eighties he wrote a journal article[0] that suggested AIDS* could be transmitted through regular, non-sexual contact (such as sharing a household). he referred to another article in the same journal to support his fear-mongering, but according to the author, he never read that article. if he had, he would have known that the author’s conclusion was not that infants had become ill from contact but rather that the virus was being transmitted in-utero. the media grabbed onto fauci’s paper[1], and if you know anything about the way people with AIDS were (and still are) treated, you know how awful it was. fauci is largely responsible for that. he is also responsible, in part, for many deaths during the AIDS crisis, both through non-action and again, drawing his own conclusions instead of “following the science”. [2][3]
fauci is closer to a politician than a scientist. someone like him should have never been put in charge. but america loves politicians…
* this was pre-HIV knowledge
[0] 1983 paper published in JAMA
[1] 1983 NYT article
Admittedly I haven’t researched too much into him, but yeah in that case, maybe he’s not as good as I thought he was.
