White House chief medical adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci justified the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) new mask guidance Wednesday morning on MSNBC, claiming that the virus has changed and not the CDC.
He pointed out that the CDC’s previous guidance, which declared vaccinated people did not have to wear masks in most settings, was when the “Alpha” variant of the virus was dominant. (RELATED: House Imposes Mask Mandate Again With New CDC Guidance)
Fauci on the CDC’s mask flip-flop: “The CDC hasn’t really flip-flopped at all.” pic.twitter.com/ZNvrCesra5
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) July 28, 2021
“What has changed is the virus,” Fauci declared. “The CDC hasn’t changed, the CDC hasn’t really flip-flopped at all.”
Fauci said the level of virus in vaccinated people who were infected with the Alpha variant was “really very low” making it “very unlikely that they would transmit” the virus. But the Delta variant, Fauci said, is much more transmissible and there is about 1,000 times more of the virus in infected people than the Alpha variant.
“Even though it’s a rare occurrence, those individuals can and have transmitted the virus to unaffected individuals,” Fauci continued. “And for that reason, the recommendations and the guidelines have been changed to say that if you are vaccinated, even though you are vaccinated, if you are in an indoor, public setting, in an area of the country with a high degree of viral dynamics … then you need to wear a mask even though you are vaccinated.”
The CDC announced their new mask guidance Tuesday, declaring that all vaccinated people should wear a mask indoors in some situations, and also recommending masks for all students in K – 12 schools, regardless of vaccination status.