Fauci: If You Do Not Know the Vaccine Status of People, Then You Should Be Wearing a Mask

Pam KeyNovember 19, 2021

National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases head Dr. Anthony Fauci said Thursday on MSNBC’s “All In” that if you were in a setting where you do not know the vaccine status of people, “then you should be wearing a mask.”

Hayes asked, “In terms of people gathering and the sort of colder weather, which is coming, and we’re seeing cases go up. I keep telling everyone I know this, like, prepare yourself. There will be cases going up this winter. If people are going to get together for gatherings like Thanksgiving, how should they be thinking about it? My instinct is, you know, everyone should be vaccinated, and you should get boosted if you can. Maybe test the day of. How do you think about it?”

Fauci said, “Well, the situation is — and let’s just take a scenario, you have a family setting. You’re vaccinated. Your family members are vaccinated, and even if the children who are yet too young to get vaccinated, go have an enjoyable Thanksgiving in your home. You don’t need to wear a mask.”

He continued, “The situation is that when you are outside in indoor congregant settings where you do not know the vaccine status of people, then you should be wearing a mask. If you’re in a situation where everybody is vaccinated, then you really don’t need to wear a mask. If you’re at home, that’s the situation. That’s the reason why the CDC says when you’re in congregant settings, and you have no idea who’s around you, there’s no requirement for vaccination. That’s when you need to wear a mask. If you know people are vaccinated, you don’t need to wear a mask.”

Fauci added, “Anybody who starts saying you shouldn’t be wearing a mask because we don’t know if masks work, that’s been put to bed. Masks work, period. There are many studies that now show that. Just like the recent study that has come out from the British study, just literally today it came out.”

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