In an interview on ABC News’s “Start Here” podcast, available Thursday, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the federal government’s leading authority on infectious disease, said that Donald Trump misrepresented his statements on mask wearing during Tuesday’s presidential debate.
Trump claimed that Fauci didn’t recommend wearing masks when the pandemic first hit the nation, a characterization that Fauci claims is misleading, reports the New York Times. Trump asserted that Fauci said “masks are not good — then he changed his mind.”
In the podcast, Fauci noted that early in the pandemic, he didn’t want the general public to purchase masks to help alleviate the shortages experienced by hospitals and care facilities at the time.
However, as scientists learned about the ease of transmission for coronavirus, Fauci changed the message and encouraged people to wear face-coverings, including homemade masks in light of the N95 mask shortage.
“Anybody who has been listening to me over the last several months knows that a conversation does not go by where I do not strongly recommend that people wear masks,” Fauci said on the podcast.