Fauci Defends Masks as Mandates Return

Dr. Anthony Fauci defended on Sunday the idea that face masks work to protect people from COVID-19, while also responding about a recent study that some have used to cite their opposition of them as some mask mandates return in parts of the country.

When asked by ABC News' This Week host Jonathan Karl if masks proved to be less effective in combatting COVID-19, Fauci said, "Some of the studies are confusing. The study that recently has been now quoted a lot and causing a lot of confusion, is this Cochrane study, which even the people who run the Cochrane studies say that that study can be misleading because people have commented on that study saying, 'Absolutely masks don't work,' which is absolutely not the case. There are a number of studies that show that masks actually do work."

During 2020 and 2021, when the world was in the grips of the pandemic, masks were widely adopted as a way to prevent the spread of the disease. The comments by Fauci, the former chief medical adviser to the White House, are referencing a study from the Cochrane Library that was published in 2020 and then further updated in January 2023 that looked at 78 different trials involving the effectiveness of mask wearing and COVID-19.

"Ten studies took place in the community, and two studies in healthcare workers. Compared with wearing no mask in the community studies only, wearing a mask may make little to no difference in how many people caught a flu‐like illness/COVID‐like illness (9 studies; 276,917 people)," the study said. "And probably makes little or no difference in how many people have flu/COVID confirmed by a laboratory test (6 studies; 13,919 people)."

However, in March 2023, Karla Soares-Weiser, editor-in-chief of the Cochrane Library, issued a statement in response to the study, saying that it was "widely misinterpreted."

"It would be accurate to say that the review examined whether interventions to promote mask wearing help to slow the spread of respiratory viruses, and that the results were inconclusive," the statement said. "Given the limitations in the primary evidence, the review is not able to address the question of whether mask-wearing itself reduces people's risk of contracting or spreading respiratory viruses."

Newsweek reached out to Cochrane Library via email for comment.

Over the past few weeks, the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has recorded a slight increase in COVID-19 hospitalizations, prompting some areas across the country to return to a mask mandate. Some local schools have encouraged masks for students and staff members amid new cases, while other Republican-led states have vowed against any possible return to a mask mandate in their states.

During an interview with CNN earlier this month, Fauci further spoke about mask wearing and said that other studies, instead of the one from the Cochrane Library, show that individual mask wearing pose an advantage to limiting the spread of COVID-19.

"When you talk about an individual basis as someone protecting themselves or protecting themselves from spreading it to others, there's no doubt that there are many studies that show that there is an advantage," Fauci said about mask wearing.

However, during his interview on This Week, Fauci said he doesn't expect to see a federal mask mandate put in place in the United States, but instead said he sees possible mask recommendations
"if we get a significant uptick in cases."

Fauci has been accused by critics of changing his position on mask-wearing. In the early days of the pandemic, he advised people not to wear masks. In an email obtained by Buzzfeed News, he told Sylvia Burwell, former health and human services secretary, on February 5, 2020: "Masks are really for infected people to prevent them from spreading infection to people who are not infected rather than protecting uninfected people from acquiring infection.

"The typical mask you buy in the drug store is not really effective in keeping out virus, which is small enough to pass through material. It might, however, provide some slight benefit in keep out gross droplets if someone coughs or sneezes on you."

On March 8, 2020, Fauci said "there's no reason to be walking around with a mask," according to Reuters. He later said that he was worried about health care workers not having enough protective equipment.

On April 3, 2020, the CDC updated its guidance to advise people to wear face coverings "in public settings when around people outside their household, especially when social distancing measures are difficult to maintain."

The changes were made as more information about COVID-19 became available during the pandemic. Fauci has since encouraged mask-wearing in line with the CDC advice.

"So when people say, 'Well, why did you change your stance? And why are you emphasizing masks so much now when back then you didn't—and in fact you even said you shouldn't because there was a shortage of masks?' Well the data now are very, very clear," he said, according to CNN.

Update, 09/11/23, 1:15 p.m. ET: This article was updated with additional background information.