Dr. Anthony Fauci said that lockdowns were justified ‘early on, when 5,000 people were dying a day,’ extending that logic to masking and vaccine mandates.
In his first congressional testimony since leaving government, Dr. Anthony Fauci on Monday defended every single federal COVID-19 response that he once advocated for, including business lockdowns, stay-at-home orders, church closures, mask mandates for children, and vaccine requirements.
Dr. Fauci, who played a key role in the federal pandemic response when he served as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), was asked during a June 3 hearing before the U.S. House of Representatives Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic whether he still believes the various COVID-19 mitigation measures that he once championed were justified.
“I’m going go through a list of COVID mitigation measures that you supported over the course of the pandemic and ask you to give me a yes or no as to whether you believe these measures were justified,” Rep. Michael Cloud (R-Texas) said, asking Dr. Fauci to first comment on business closures.
“Early on, when 5,000 people were dying a day—yes,” Dr. Fauci replied.
Doubling Down On Lockdowns, Mask Mandates
Asked about church and school closures, and stay-at-home orders, Dr. Fauci replied in the affirmative, once again giving as justification the number of deaths associated with COVID-19 at the time that the policies were adopted.
“These were important when we were trying to stop the tsunami of deaths that were occurring early on,” Dr. Fauci replied, adding that the only thing that is debatable was how long the lockdowns should have lasted.
While some studies have suggested that lockdowns worked to stem the spread of the virus, other studies have identified such measures as contributing to jumps in suicides, mental health crises, learning loss, and delayed medical treatments.
Mr. Cloud then asked about mask mandates for adults and children, including those under the age of 5.
Dr. Fauci defended the masking requirements, saying that mitigation measures should be evaluated based on the circumstances at the time, namely thousands of daily deaths due to COVID-19.
