Dr. Anthony Fauci lashed out Wednesday at critics who have called for his firing — saying the salvos launched at him are “attacks on science.”

“It’s very dangerous,” Fauci told MSNBC. “A lot of what you’re seeing as attacks on me quite frankly are attacks on science, because all of the things that I have spoken about consistently from the very beginning, have been fundamentally based on science.”

He added, “People want to fire me or put me in jail for what I’ve done — namely, follow the science.”

The White House chief medical adviser has come under fire in recent days after the release of emails from early in the coronavirus pandemic. Critics have lambasted him for everything from changing his stance on masks to dismissing the possibility that the virus was leaked from a lab in China.

But Fauci defended himself in the interview with Chuck Todd by slamming his detractors’ criticism as “preposterous,” and calling their other points “just painfully ridiculous.”

“It’s preposterous, Chuck. Totally preposterous,” he said of the attacks.

In the early days of the pandemic, when researchers were still learning about asymptomatic transmission, Fauci said he was simply following the science that was known at the time, he said in the interview.

There was a mask shortage back then and little evidence showing that the face covers worked at stopping COVID-19 from spreading outside of hospitals, he said.

But when new research emerged, he changed his stance and advocated for wearing masks, he said.

Dr. Fauci has claimed that attacks on him are really attacks on science in general.EPA/Oliver Contreras / POOL

“As a scientist, as a health official, when those data change, when you get more information, it’s essential that you change your position because you’ve got to be guided by the science and the current data,” he said.

Fauci added that he was “picked as the villain” on the mask issue despite other public health officials sharing his views back then.

Regarding the possible lab leak in China — a  theory that has grown in credibility in recent weeks as the Biden administration investigates the origin of COVID-19 —  Fauci said he still thinks it’s a long shot.

Source: https://nypost.com/2021/06/09/fauci-says-attacks-on-him-are-attacks-on-science/

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Wearing masks and gloves as a precaution against coronavirus is ineffective, unnecessary for the vast majority of people, and may even spread infections faster, experts said Tuesday.

While near-total lockdowns have been imposed in Italy, Spain and now France, the World Health Organization’s advice has remained unchanged since the start of the global outbreak: wash your hands, don’t touch your face, and keep your distance.

The WHO says it is advisable to wear a protective mask in public if you suspect you are infected or someone you are caring for is, in which case the advice is to stay home whenever possible.

“There are limits to how a mask can protect you from being infected and we’ve said the most important thing everyone can do is wash your hands, keep your hands away from your face, observe very precise hygiene,” said WHO’s emergencies director Mike Ryan.

The advice is all the more urgent given the WHO’s estimate that health workers worldwide will need at least 89 million masks every month to treat COVID-19 cases.

There are already shortages of masks for medical professionals around the world, a problem that could get worse as the pandemic drags on.

But the message about masks hasn’t reached everyone.

“I’m surprised to see through the window in my ministry lots of people in the street wearing masks when that doesn’t correspond to our recommendations,” French health minister Olivier Veran said Monday.

Mariam, 35, told AFP that she was wearing a mask because she has an elderly mother.

“Just in case,” said Mariam, who was also sporting latex gloves.

Mariam, who didn’t want to give her last name, said she got her mask from “a friend’s mother who works in a hospital”.

Contaminated masks

As well as hoovering up stocks sorely needed by medical professionals, experts say masks can give people who wear them a false sense of security.

For example, many people who wear them don’t follow the official advice of washing their hands thoroughly first, ensuring it’s air-tight and not to touch it once it’s on.

“People are always readjusting their masks and that has the potential to contaminate them,” said France’s head of health, Jerome Salomon.

“If someone has come across the virus, it’s surely going to be on the mask.”

Gloves, similarly, don’t greatly heighten protection and could even end up making you sick.

“If people cannot stop touching their face, gloves will not serve a purpose,” Amesh Adalja, from Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, told AFP.

One 2015 study in the American Journal of Infection Control found that people touch their face on average 20 times an hour.

The novel coronavirus is transmitted via skin contact, transferring infected globules of mucus via the ears, eyes or nose.

“Gloves are not a substitute for washing your hands,” said Adalja, adding that surgical gloves should only be used in a medical setting.

Plus, said Veran: “If you’re wearing gloves you’re not washing your hands.”

For one Paris resident, Oriane, 32, this is not a problem.

“I wash my gloves,” she said, gesturing to her bright blue surgical mitts.

Source: https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-03-masks-gloves-dont-coronavirus-experts.html

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