Fauci: Wearing face masks is key to avoiding shutdowns

The United States’ top infectious- diseases doctor pleaded with Americans to set politics aside and wear a face mask to arrest an escalation of COVID-19 cases.

Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and colleagues outlined how face coverings can help prevent COVID-19 in a commentary in the Journal of the American Medical Association. He said Wednesday that overcoming politically driven biases around their use is critical for avoiding economically crippling shutdowns.

“We don’t want to shut down completely,” Fauci said in an online interview with Howard Bauchner, the journal’s editor-in-chief. “That’s almost radioactive now when you say that because of the situation of not wanting to hurt the economy. Well, if you don’t want to shut down, at least do the fundamental, basic things...the flagship of which is wearing a mask.”

Mandates for the wearing of masks in public have been associated with a drop in COVID-19 cases in the U. S., and modeling by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation last week found that universal mask use could save an additional 129,574 American lives from Sept. 22 through February 2021.

A temporary lockdown along with a A$200 ($140) fine for not complying with mask-wearing laws in Melbourne helped the city crush an explosive outbreak, Fauci said.

“The fact that it was accomplished in a major cosmopolitan city in a country like Australia made me feel that there is hope for us to get this under control,” said Fauci, who was presented the National Academy of Medicine’s inaugural Presidential Citation for Exemplary Leadership earlier this month.

A vaccine to help control the coronavirus outbreak isn’t likely to be available in the U.S. until January, if then, Fauci said. Until then, “low-tech” tools to prevent the spread of the SARSCoV-2 virus are essential. “And it must be emphasized that these interventions will still be needed after a vaccine is initially available,” he said in the commentary.

ERIN SCOTT — BLOOMBERG Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, removes his Washington Nationals protective mask during a hearing by the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis in Washington in July.