Dr. Fauci and Biden advocate a mask mandate, as U.S. COVID-19 infections exceed 83,000, hitting new daily record

Authored by marketwatch.com and submitted by Wagamaga

Dr. Anthony Fauci wants all Americans to wear a mask and — contrary to previous statements he’s made on the issue — he now favors a mask mandate in order to make that happen.

Fauci, a physician and immunologist, and director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for the last three decades, told Erin Burnett on CNN’s OutFront Friday evening: “If people are not wearing masks, then maybe we should be mandating."

“There’s going to be a difficulty enforcing it, but if everyone agrees that this is something that’s important, and they mandate it and everybody pulls together and says, you know, we’re going to mandate it but let’s just do it, I think that would be a great idea,” he said.

“ Anthony Fauci had previously stopped short of saying that the American people should be required to wear masks under a mandate. ”

Previously, Fauci has stopped short of saying that the American people should be required to wear masks under a mandate, but the recent spike in cases and surveys showing that people are still not wearing masks in public places appears to have shifted his stance on the issue.

As of Saturday, COVID-19 had infected nearly 40.4 million people worldwide, which mostly does not account for asymptomatic cases, and killed 1.1 million people. The U.S. still has the world’s highest number of cases and deaths (over 8.5 million and 224,188 deaths), Johns Hopkins University reported.

The U.S. hit a new record of more than 83,000 new infections in a 24-hour period on Friday, COVID-19 Dashboard published by Johns Hopkins. Hospitalizations due to COVID-19 surged 40%, hitting the Midwest and Mountain West particularly hard, the New York Times added.

Speaking in Wilmington, Del. on Friday, Democratic nominee for president Joe Biden said, “First, I’ll go to every governor and urge them to mandate mask wearing in their states and, if they refuse, I’ll go to the mayors and county executives and get local mask requirements in place nationwide.”

Related:U.S. sets coronavirus infection record; deaths near 224,000

Anthony Fauci told CNN’s Erin Burnett Friday evening that he is now predisposed to a mask mandate, a view echoed by the Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden. President Trump has declined to advocate for such a mandate. CNN

The Trump administration has taken a mixed stance on masks. On Sunday, Twitter TWTR, +0.31% blocked a post by Dr. Scott Atlas, one of President Donald Trump’s top health advisers, after he claimed face masks were ineffective in preventing the spread of the coronavirus.

“Masks work? NO” Atlas tweeted Sunday, followed by a thread of posts that misrepresented scientific findings on masks, which have shown broad agreement that they help to stop the spread of the disease, and are also an essential part of personal protective equipment for frontline workers.

“ Some 85% of adults say they wear a mask most/all of the time, according to a recent Pew Research Center survey. ”

The comments by Atlas, a Stanford radiologist with no background in infectious diseases, contradicts guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the World Health Organization and Fauci.

Last week, Fauci said that vulnerable people should also think about wearing a mask in the home if they’re around people who have had contact with others, and advised people to avoid crowds, congregating indoors and suggested frequent washing of hands.

“Whenever we public-health officials talk about implementing public-health measures people think that we want to shut the country down,” he said. “We don’t want to do that. What we want to do is use public-health measures in a prudent, careful way to help us to reopen the country.”

Related:CDC says big Thanksgiving gatherings are a high-risk activity. Here’s how to safely visit family this holiday season

He also said that voting in person on Nov. 3 is just as safe as going to Starbucks, assuming other people wear masks. “I think it’s just as safe to go and get a cup of coffee in a Starbucks in which everyone’s wearing a mask and doing the things they should be doing.”

“You can’t enter into the cool months of the fall, and the cold months of the winter with a high community infection baseline,” he said. People will spend more time indoors, he added. “That’s when you have to be particularly careful about the spread of respiratory-born disease.”

Fauci is not the only public-health professional who is concerned about a “twindemic” of influenza and coronavirus during the winter months, making it more difficult to distinguish between symptoms caused by the respective viruses, and potentially overwhelming hospitals.

AstraZeneca AZN, +0.07% ; BioNTech SE BNTX, +2.69% and partner Pfizer PFE, +2.00% ; Johnson & Johnson JNJ, +0.11% ; Merck & Co. MERK, +3.94% ; Moderna MRNA, -0.43% ; Sanofi SAN, +2.97% and GlaxoSmithKline GSK, +0.57% are among those working on vaccines.

Also see: New Yorkers don’t have much hope that the city will recover from COVID-19 anytime soon

Some 85% of adults say they wear a mask most/all of the time, according to a Pew Research Center survey conducted in August, versus 65% in June. The gap between Democrats and Republicans on mask wearing narrowed to 16 percentage points, down from 23 points last spring, Pew said.

In the latest survey, 92% of Democrats and Democratic leaners say they usually wear masks in stores and other businesses, compared to 76% of Republicans and GOP leaners. In June, 76% of Democrats said the same compared to 53% of Republicans and GOP leaners.

“As rapidly growing case counts strained health-care systems across the South and Southwest this summer, more Republican leaders ordered citizens to wear masks to help slow the spread of the virus,” the report said.

The Washington, D.C.-based think tank said that the president calling mask wearing “patriotic” may have helped. “In July, President Donald Trump wore a mask in public for the first time and urged Americans to do the same, marking a change in tone from earlier in the pandemic.”

customerny on October 24th, 2020 at 15:13 UTC »

Biggest issue with enforcement is national mandate can't be enforced, it all must be done locally. Cops refusing to enforce health orders. Those that refusing to wear a mask have figured out long time ago that cops will not bother them over not wearing a mask.

tobiasdeml on October 24th, 2020 at 13:38 UTC »

Maybe = code for "I've been imploring you asshats for months, so just to be clear:"

[deleted] on October 24th, 2020 at 11:32 UTC »

Honestly I think a national mask mandate would change very little. It might increase mask usage slightly (maybe it’s worth doing even just for that) but it would require an unprecedented degree of enforcement to get enough people to comply, and that’s almost impossible when so many authorities themselves are anti-mask or apathetic. My state has had a mask mandate since April and not only do tons of people simply ignore it, authorities do not consistently enforce it. I’ve seen large groups of teens just casually emerge from McDonalds with only like a quarter wearing masks. There are complaints in my area of staff at doctor’s offices not wearing masks. legitimately idk what to do.