The phrases used by @refurb are commonly repeated phrases, but they are missing nuance.

Masks absolutely work, just ask any nurse who didn't catch COVID while working 12-hour shifts for weeks in a COVID ward. The issue like you said is the right type of mask, and wearing it properly.

Half the time people were wearing masks with their nose poking out, or under their chin. Even wearing it fully covering - if it isn't airtight, and you haven't pinched the wired nose connection removing the small gap, it still won't work.

Similar with vaccines, science isn't exact, so a statement made at the start of the pandemic is not going to be the same 12-18 months later. There were dozens of variants of COVID each with different levels of risk. A vaccine doesn't guarantee you won't catch the virus, but can minimise or reduce symptoms, reduce spread, prime your body with some antibodies for your body to start combating it sooner.

So it's easy to say someone "lied". But data changes. Also, you have to make statements for the general population (lowest common denominator), not people with an educated / scientific / medical background.

Vaccines, masks, social distancing are all part of the Swiss Cheese Model which will reduce risk, but not eliminate it.

“Right now in the United States, people should not be walking around with masks.” - Fauci statement on March 8, 2020

"Wear a mask." — Dr. Anthony Fauci, CNN interview, May 21, 2020

It's wild to see people wave their hands to explain that away.

    > 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.

Im really curious why you hold that opinion though. Do you not care that much about what the actual truth is? Like do you hear/read about how Fauci said opposing things supposedly, and just don't care enough to check the facts? Or is there another reason why you believe he is contradicting himself.

Even in this one conversation - "The masks are important for someone who’s infected to prevent them from infecting someone else…" to "And, often, there are unintended consequences — people keep fiddling with the mask and they keep touching their face." to "I’m not against it. If you want to do it, that’s fine." to "It could lead to a shortage of masks for the people who really need it."

Just in this one interview it goes from "if you're healthy you don't need one" to "masks can actually make things worse" to "if you want to do it, it's fine" to "don't do it, it could lead to a shortage".

Then a month or two later, he's supporting strict mask mandates even for healthy people.

If there is another health crisis, this guy should never be allowed to talk to the media ever again.

Given the text of the conversation, which happened early on, and things were unknown, its pretty easy to see the rhetoric is Fauci highlighting the possibility of shortage for masks for the medical staff given that in public they may not be that effective. Then later on, when there were enough masks for everyone and more studies came out, the recommendation was to wear masks.

And of course, masking, social distancing, quarantine, and vaccine were all proven to work post-hoc through studies overwhelmingly. So the big bad government was right all along.

The interesting thing is that you a) ignore his first sentence which clearly states his intent to prioritize medical professionals, and b) conflate his caution against shortages with him telling people to mask up.

The 2 explanations of why you think like this is either you are incapable of reading comprehension, or you are so ideologically driven that you basically make up reality in your head real time that fits your world view. And either reason is why conservatives should no longer be tolerated - because its not about my view vs yours, its about actual reality vs your insanity.

Did you not read the same thing I read? He held 4 different positions in the same interview - healthy people shouldn't wear masks, then masks actually make things worse, to "I don't care if you wear them", to "healthy people wearing them causes shortages".

Then add on top later on he demanded oppressive mask mandates for everyone.

You call that a public health care expert?

And that's not even getting into his political answers about the Wuhan lab and his involvement.

The guy is a terrible, terrible public health leader, yet because he's Team Blue(tm) you give it all a pass.

Again, you either lack basic comprehension of written text, unable to imagine the conversation taking place with a context in mind, and understand that just because the message wasn't communicated the way you would have preferred doesn't mean the message is wrong or contradictory.

Or you understand all that, but you have intimately tied your ideological beliefs into your identity to the point where admitting you are wrong is basically saying to yourself that you are shell of a person.

One last question: suppose we took random people off the street, and then gave them that transcript and asked them to interpret what Fauci was saying, and the vast majority of them agreed that nothing in that message was contradictory - would you change your mind? Or would you think that you are more "enlightened" than all of them?

1970 - "smoking is harmful"

Checkmate, scientists!

In all seriousness, we don't need a vast conspiracy for this. It's called being wrong and changing your mind, we do it all the fucking time.

Nobody expects what people said about Tuberculosis in 1920 to be 100% accurate today. But for some reason, people expect what was said about Covid in the beginning to ALWAYS be accurate. Why would that be the case? It's a novel disease. Yeah duh our understanding is going to change.

And don't you think it's smart to not make definitive statements if you don't really know?

This is all basic public relations 101.

I agree their PR could have been a little better. But, it was also not that bad all things considered. The thing is conspiracy theorists would've rejected any vaccine, and there's nothing anybody could have done about that. Ultimately the CDC can't make stupid people unstupid.