Do masks "protect the individual" but fail to show any effect in randomized controlled trials, as Fauci says?
Debunking a bizarre but common claim about the science of masking
In September of last year on CNN, after devastating study citations from the interviewer showing that masks don't work, Fauci responded: "but masks work on an individual level". Here it is:
Fauci’s response is nonsense. Here's why.
To do science on masks, you have a masked group and an unmasked group. You compare the rate of infection in each group. This is called a randomized trial. This is how science is done.
If the rate of infection is the same, then masks don't work. This was what the studies on masks showed. No difference.
Now, there is simply no such thing as scientific studies showing that "masks work at the individual level".
Fauci either doesn't understand how science works or he is lying and making things up. It really is that simple. Fauci is saying gobbledygook in order to keep the idea of masks alive. It's incredibly shameful for Fauci to abuse science in this way. But it's par for the course in the way he has communicated science throughout the entire pandemic.
Sad.
I knew this guy was not to be trusted because I happened to have purchased (before 2020) the book How to Survive a Plague, by David France and read it shortly after lockdowns began. Surprise surprise, who is in there but Anthony Fauci and it was pretty clear he was using the same playbook from that time period again. I was a total outlier saying he was a bad dude when everyone thought he was the savior.
There are mask studies going all the way back to the Spanish flu. Instead of "do they 'protect the individual?'" the question is "do they prevent respiratory illness?" and that answer is: No.