What Has Dr. Fauci Said Publicly About the Widespread Protests?

While he has expressed concern and called for mask-wearing, it’s true he never called for them to be disbanded.

By
10

In a viral tweet that he then shared on Instagram, Dinesh D’Souza claimed that Dr. Anthony Fauci was never critical of the recent protests that swept the nation despite the risk of spreading that such large gatherings pose:

Here we have an example of why fact-checking can be so difficult. D’Souza’s claim is literally true: Fauci has not called for an immediate end to the protests using the exact words in D’Souza’s tweet. But Fauci has spoken out repeatedly—and aggressively—about the public health risks such mass gatherings present. 

Fauci has addressed the risk of transmitting coronavirus at protests on several occasions. On June 5, Fauci said in an interview with radio station WTOP that “the reasons for demonstrating are valid, and yet the demonstration itself puts one at an additional risk.” He called protests “the perfect setup [for coronavirus transmission]” and went on to say: “I get very concerned, as do my colleagues in public health, when they see these kinds of crowds.” Fauci told his interviewer that he recognized why people would want to go to demonstrations and that it was important to practice the constitutional right to do so, but that he would advise demonstrators to keep their masks on. 

Create a free account
Access additional articles and newsletters for no cost, no credit card information needed. Continue ALREADY HAVE AN ACCOUNT? SIGN IN
10
By
Comments (10)
Join The Dispatch to participate in the comments.
 
  1. Scroop Moth

    It was clear enough from the beginning that masks were effective. Medical workers were desperate to get them, and everyone in Asia was wearing them. I passed up an opportunity to buy my own because of the official recommendation to leave them to the hospital workers who needed them most. It was clear that the risk for transmission was higher at hospitals than in the community, especially at the beginning of the pandemic. I knew that I would eventually have to get masks, but felt that wearing one at that point would be anti-social. The mystery was why we didn’t have enough. While selfish behavior is the engine of capitalism, it’s not the best ingredient for public health and governance.

    Collapse
  2. P Satter

    Dr. Fauci can only express clear concern and make recommendations for the protests based on public health which he clearly and diplomatically did, in contrast to some who took a more political stance in supporting them. I am not aware that he even has the legal authority to insist and enforce that the protesters go home. If he attempted that, he might be seen as acting for political purposes on behalf of his boss and have any further statements disregarded in the current partisan minefield.
    To have some perspective, he has a novel coronavirus to deal with, and worse than just unknown behavior from the new virus, some of the initial info given from China was inaccurate. He can only respond to the data (on the virus and availability of medical equipment) he has at any given time. He also has an idiosyncratic administration to deal with where he is often randomly criticized for political reasons by people who have neither the responsibility nor expertise to make their own recommendations.
    If you read other media, Sweden has questioned their response to the coronavirus, there was an article in the WSJ about how Israel had a resurgence after opening schools too soon, France and England have increased their mask requirements due to the uptick in coronavirus numbers, and Beijing has dealt with a recent resurgence as well. We are not the only ones dealing with this difficult virus.
    Dr. Fauci has been methodical and unflappable. He has responded to his continuous criticism with grace and patient explanation. He is our ally but has been treated by some unfairly as an enemy. He deserves our support and good will--particularly as the flu of 1918 had three waves over a year so this is not over yet.

    Collapse
  3. Avatar photo
    Victor Clairmont

    Thanks Alec's for the breakdown! Dinesh sure has come a long way huh...still remember Jonah Goldberg saying how he crib his book idea's from Liberal Fascism, and then went all Leroy Jenkins on the issue.

    On a similar note, I feel bad for Fauci. A man who ran into the fire during the AIDS crisis, being sidelined for some errors he made (saying for example that people don't need to wear masks, then admitting he said it to keep people form buying out the PPE. Should have said let First Responder's have PPE and bandanna or cloth over your face).

    I mean, come on everyone, if you are going to sideline Facui, don't try to destroy a man's reputation. He's one of the good guys even if he was wrong on points.

    For well meaning republicans angry with Fauci, just think: After 9-11, when people were saying "Bush lied people died", after the invasion of Iraq and toppling of Saddam Hussein, were you angry when (rightly or wrongly) people were tarring Bush as intentionally wanting to take the oil from the middle east and starting the war based on fake premises? Was Bush intentionally trying to destroy a country and steal oil? Or was the intelligence apparatus (including the UK) wrong on the issue of weapons of mass destruction? I am not defending these points, just asking people to think about the outcry here.

    Fauci was wrong, and ill headed trying to balance lesser of two evils on some points, but the guy's on our side and is good. Give the guy some grace. I hope the administration will too, but the way the seem to handle people that don't like is to get rid of them.

    Collapse
    1. Avatar photo
      Aylene Wright

      I think you are naive in thinking the situation is just Fauci "being sidelined for some errors he made". (The Surgeon General was even more adamant than Fauci about people NOT wearing masks. But he isn't being sidelined. He has also said very flattering things about Trump.)

      IMO it is mostly about Trumpworld using him as a scapegoat and throwing him under the bus, because Trump's own polling on whether anyone trust him to deal with this pandemic is in the toilet, and Fauci has had much better "ratings", there is even a bit of a personality cult that has developed. So I doubt that Trump sees him primarily as a valuable asset that has made some errors, or even an employee who annoys him by refusing to flatter him, but as an actual competitor to the Trump Show. And so he must be brought down.

      Collapse
      1. Avatar photo
        Victor Clairmont

        Well sideline was my polite way of saying he's getting screwed.

        Collapse
    2. Avatar photo
      Wes

      To err is human. To admit an error and change course is the best we can do.

      Collapse
    3. Ryan

      I think you make a very good point about Dr. Fauci. It is indeed very easy to be critical of the public health response to the COVID-19 crisis, especially early on. But we have to remember that public health experts are people too, and people make mistakes. And managing a novel pandemic virus when very little is known about its transmission and overall morbidity is an extremely difficult job. Dr. Fauci and American public health officials were far from the only ones advocating against mask-wearing early on in order to preserve crucial stockpiles for medical staff. Public health agencies across the world were saying the same things back in February and March, and for all I know they were going off the best information they had available at the time.

      This effort to paint Dr. Fauci as the true villain behind the COVID-19 devastation is truly bizarre to me. I can't imagine the kind of warped thinking that would lead someone to believe these caricatures.

      Collapse
      1. Avatar photo
        Victor Clairmont

        Right, this is an argument of intent. Did Fauci sit in an evil lair petting a Rag doll white cat grinning maniacally thinking of ways to destroy the American economy? Or, more than likely he was doing the best with what he had, his own morals (rightly or wrongly), and making choices that none of us will have to ever truly make?

        I think Fauci, out of everyone out there on the political scene, left and right, gets some grace from me.

        Collapse
    4. Daniel Rabiner

      Anyone who can use a WOW reference like Leroy Jenkins gets a thumbs up in my book.

      Collapse
      1. Avatar photo
        MG

        At least Dinesh has chicken.

        Collapse