Dr. Anthony Fauci said Sunday on “Face the Nation” that children should continue to wear face masks while playing to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
“So if parents are vaccinated, they still do need to be concerned about their unvaccinated children playing together in groups?” host Margaret Brennan asked. “Is that right?”
“Yeah, the children can clearly wind up getting infected,” Fauci said. “When we talk about what you can do when you’re vaccinated, you can certainly have members of a family, if the adults are vaccinated, and you’re in the home with your child, you don’t need to wear a mask and you can have physical contact. When your children go out into the community, you want them to continue to wear masks when they’re interacting with groups from multiple households.” (RELATED: It’s Been Three Weeks, Where Are The COVID-19 Surges?)
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Several states, including Wyoming, Iowa, Mississippi, Montana, Texas, and North Dakota have lifted or relaxed their mask mandates and other restrictions after a decline in coronavirus cases. Fauci has been critical of states lifting their mask mandates, saying those states are inviting another surge of cases.
“I mean, we understand people’s need to get back to normal and we are going in that direction,” Fauci said March 10 on CNN. “But when you start doing things like completely putting aside all public health measures as if you’re turning a light switch off, that’s quite risky. We don’t want to see another surge, and that’s inviting one when you do that.”
President Joe Biden and White House press secretary Jen Psaki also criticized governors who were ending mask mandates.
Biden called ending mask mandates was “Neanderthal thinking,” and Psaki said that “this entire country has paid the price for political leaders who ignored the science when it comes to the pandemic.”
The president signed an executive order the day he came into office requiring masks on all federal property.