Masks were useless.

I mean he said that masks bought at stores are ineffective, but watch people write huge paragraphs ignoring that lmao

100% out of context.

He said masks were for sick people and healthy people shouldn't be wearing them. He also said there might be some small benefit, but it wasn't worth it for the specific person he was talking to. Bear in mind this was in February before it was declared a pandemic.

February 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. I do not recommend that you wear a mask, particularly since you are going to a very low risk location. Your instincts are correct, money is best spent on medical countermeasures such as diagnostics and vaccines."

July 2020
https://www.washingtonpost.com/video/washington-post-live/fauci-on-how-his-thinking-has-evolved-on-masks-asymptomatic-transmission/2020/07/24/799264e2-0f35-4862-aca2-2b4702650a8b_video.html

“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.”

Here are the actual emails:
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/20793561-leopold-nih-foia-anthony-fauci-emails

Fauci has vacillated on just about every aspect of this virus. What the emails show is what he said in private vs what his public statements were.

He knew that masks didn't work. He knew that the virus was leaked from a lab in Wuhan and not contracted by a human from a bat.

There was so much that Fauci knew and didn't tell the rest of us. Why? What was he hiding?

I've dug in... And I don't think so. I see consistent messaging and even interviews where he explains why guidance is changing.

The Wuhan leak - he may have known, but I doubt it. Based on the vanity Fair article (which was fantastic btw), I think there were suspicions that it was the lab, people knew that we had funded the lab despite having reports of its poor security/containment and knew they were doing research that has been quasi banned under Obama and unblocked by Trump, though he added an approval process that I don't think they went through.

In essence, I don't think anyone *knew* for sure it was the lab and when China assured them it wasn't, people had an interest in it being true.

Nobody wanted to be the messanger or to have their name attached to something like that. It also didn't really make a difference at the time. The virus was out and spreading.

The reason why I posted the link to the emails is so you wouldn't have to rely on biased journalism, like Vanity Fair, who will tell you only what you want to hear. Nor will you have to read conservative web sites which say the opposite of the deluge of liberal "news" sites.

You can read the actual emails and find out for yourself what is true and what is fiction.

It's like 3000 pages. I've looked through them but dummy see anything noteworthy. I may well have overlooked stuff though. What do you think is damning from those emails?

Right after I posted my reply I watched a podcast by Dinesh D'Souza and he mentioned that Vanity Fair article. He actually said it was well researched and fair and it was very long. This is a shock because Vanity Fair typically leans left.

Now I'm going to have to actually read that article..... dang it! :)

It's like 47 pages.