Fauci doubles down on COVID-19 mandates despite science
Former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Director Anthony Fauci continues to defend the draconian COVID-19 mandates he pushed during the pandemic despite scientific evidence showing they were detrimental.
Physical distancing and lockdowns
Fauci made the remarks during an appearance at Tulane University’s Book Fest on March 28th with biographer Walter Isaacson. In one of his comments, the pandemic architect defended physical distancing mandates that required people to keep a six-foot distance between one another, even though no scientific evidence justified this policy.
"You needed to have physical distancing, which you know, people say ‘lockdown’ — we didn't lock down. China locked down. We definitely closed a lot of things down . . . In the beginning, it was absolutely essential,” Fauci said.
On the lockdowns that ravaged the country, Fauci said: “The only way to immediately shut down the four to five thousand deaths per day was to shut things down for a while. That was the right choice.”
A 2022 study by Johns Hopkins University showed that lockdowns not only had little effect on mortality rates but also imposed “enormous economic and social costs.” The mental and emotional fallout from lockdowns — particularly on children — is still unfolding.
An Israeli study of 771,636 medical files found that lockdowns were associated with a 60% increase in patients suffering from psychiatric disorders compared with 2019. It also found a 14% increase in patients with cardiovascular diseases, an 8% increase in obese patients, a 7% increase in smoking patients, and a 6% increase in patients with high blood pressure. The study came after a report warned of a “psychiatric pandemic” due to the harsh psychiatric impact of lockdowns and quarantines, particularly on children and adolescents.
According to another study, students who suffered through the pandemic and were subjected to lockdowns should brace for significant losses in lifetime earnings.
Masks
Fauci then doubled down on his support for face masks, which are ineffective against viral diseases. A large-scale study published by the Cochrane Institute in 2023 concluded that surgical masks and even N95 or P2 respirators offered little protection against COVID-19, if any. A team of researchers reviewed 78 global studies involving 610,000 participants. Significantly, the studies they reviewed were randomized controlled trial (RCT) studies, which are considered to be high-quality research and the scientific optimum.
When he was asked by CNN’s Michael Smerconish about this research in 2023, Fauci bizarrely responded that the data is different “on an individual basis.”
During his talk at Tulane University’s Book Fest last month, Fauci said: “One thing is very clear: masks work. You see a lot of people saying, ‘Oh, masks don’t work.’ Masks worked,” he said to applause.
In 2022, Fauci was subjected to a seven-hour deposition during which he was unable to cite any scientific evidence to support the use of face masks or lockdowns as effective tools against COVID-19.
