The Context of What Dr. Fauci Said About Early Intervention

As late as February 29, Dr. Anthony Fauci was telling America it was safe to go to the mall, the movies, and the gym.

During a Saturday, February 29 appearance on the NBC’s far-left Today Show, Fauci was asked point blank if Americans should stop enjoying their daily routines. Fauci answered point blank, “No.”

Fauci, who’s the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and on President Trump’s coronavirus task force, sounded very different this past Sunday during an appearance on far-left CNN.

CNN: The New York Times reported yesterday that you and other top officials wanted to recommend social and physical distancing guidelines to President Trump as far back as the third week of February, but the administration didn’t announce such guidelines to the American public until March 16th, almost a month later. Why?

FAUCI: As I’ve said many times, we look at it from a pure health standpoint. We make a recommendation. Often the recommendation is taken. Sometimes it’s not. But it is what it is. We are where we are right now.

CNN: Do you think lives could have been saved if social distancing, physical distancing, stay-at-home measures, had started the third week of February instead of mid-March?

FAUCI: You know, Jake, again, it’s the what would have, what could have. It’s very difficult to go back and say that. I mean, obviously, you could logically say that if you had a process that was ongoing and you started mitigation earlier, you could have saved lives. Obviously, no one is going to deny that. But what goes into those kinds of decisions is complicated. But you’re right, I mean, obviously, if we had right from the very beginning shut everything down, it may have been a little bit different. But there was a lot of pushback about shutting things down back then.

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