[Bearcat]

Originally Posted by Donger

What was left off that clip:

LaPook, March 8: There’s a lot of confusion among people, and misinformation, surrounding face masks. Can you discuss that?

Fauci: The masks are important for someone who’s infected to prevent them from infecting someone else… Right now in the United States, people should not be walking around with masks.

LaPook: You’re sure of it? Because people are listening really closely to this.

Fauci: …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.

LaPook: And can you get some schmutz, sort of staying inside there?

Fauci: Of course, of course. But, when you think masks, you should think of health care providers needing them and people who are ill. The people who, when you look at the films of foreign countries and you see 85% of the people wearing masks — that’s fine, that’s fine. I’m not against it. If you want to do it, that’s fine.

LaPook: But it can lead to a shortage of masks?

Fauci: Exactly, that’s the point. It could lead to a shortage of masks for the people who really need it.

Yeah, given NYC was still a week or two away from shit hitting the fan, and still being in the early stages of figuring out how contagious it was, and dumbasses hoarding toilet paper.... they didn't want the dumbasses to hoard masks, too.

That said, I don't like the bolded comment at all. He's perfectly on point by saying "it's not providing the perfect protection that people think it is", in this black and white world. Like someone posted last night, masks aren't perfect, social distancing isn't perfect, etc... but, there's at least some value in each of those things.

Saying there's no reason and it's not perfect is just as black and white as most people make things out to be, so you're giving people with black & white reasoning some black & white reasons not to do something, instead of a little education on how a mask could help, but perhaps isn't required at the time.