Anthony Fauci Now Says You Need to Wear Two Face Masks: It’s Just ‘Common Sense’

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Anthony Fauci said on Monday that it’s no longer enough for Americans to wear face masks in public — their face masks must also wear face masks.

A double-mask mandate?: Fauci, the chief medical adviser to President Joe Biden, said on NBC News’ “Today” that double-masking “just makes common sense” and would likely be more effective than a single mask.

Later on “Today,” NBC News’ Stephanie Gosk reported that “doctors says it’s time to double-down on mask wearing” following the emergence of strains of COVID-19 that are potentially more transmissible,

  • Gosk said the bottom line is that single-layer coverings are “just not enough” anymore, before demonstrating how to wear a cloth mask on top of a surgical mask.

The media has been abuzz with double-masking advocacy since Biden’s inauguration on Wednesday, during which former presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg and poet Amanda Gorman were spotted sporting the trendy new look.

  • White House press secretary Jenn Psaki followed suit at her first press briefing that afternoon.

“Two Masks Are the New Masks,” proclaimed a New York Times headline the next day.

  • Double-masking is a sensible and easy way to lower your risk when you have to spend more time around others …”

On social media, some progressives competed to prove they had been using two — or even three — face coverings since before it was cool.

Meanwhile, a number of conservative commentators mocked the trend and wondered about its logical conclusion.

NPR in November noted one drawback of layering face coverings: It will “make it harder to breathe in the air you need.”

Is Fauci lying?: A hero on the left, Fauci has faced criticism from the right for, by his own admission, providing public health advice based on his desire to influence behavior rather than based on the medical science.

  • For example, as a leading member of President Donald Trump’s coronavirus task force, Fauci initially told Americans not to wear masks and rejected the idea of a national mask mandate, only to later reverse those positions.

The Centers for Disease Control — where Fauci has long been the top infectious disease official — also belatedly recommended masking.

  • Biden on Wednesday signed an executive order requiring the CDC’s mask guidelines be followed on all federal property.
  • The CDC has yet to come out in favor of double-masking.
By We'll Do It Live