**Italicized text is taken directly from Fox News. All credit is given to Fox News and Megan Henney.**
Fauci defends CDC’s roundabout on mask mandates amid confusion from new guidance – Megan Henney
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, defended a decision this week by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to lift its mask mandate for people who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, despite the confusion it caused state and local health officials.
The author makes a direct correlation that the nation’s “top infectious disease expert” stands by a decision “despite the confusion it caused”. Henney’s emphasis on the confusion caused sets the tone for an article that will consistently fault Dr.Fauci for his role in agreeing.
The agency updated its guidance on Thursday, saying it’s safe for fully vaccinated Americans to forgo social distancing and go most places – indoor or outdoor – without a mask, bringing to end more than a year of mandatory face coverings in most parts of the country. But some states, including Hawaii and Massachusetts, have insisted they will keep their mask mandates in place.
The author makes sure to include the new CDC guidelines as well as the fact that states are ignoring them in an attempt to undermine the CDC’s authority. However, it should be noted that they are simply guidelines, and it has always been expected for the elective officials of each state to decide what’s best.
“The underlying reason for the CDC doing this was just based on the evolution of the science,” Fauci said during an interview on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” “But if in fact this serves as an incentive for people to get vaccinated, all the better. I hope it does, actually.” But the agency drew a sharp rebuke for its roundabout on the matter of face coverings; less than two months ago, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky warned of “impending doom” as COVID-19 cases began to rise again.
The author follows a quote made by Dr. Fauci with a sentence starting with “But the agency ” to detail that Fauci and the CDC’s statements are contradicting each other. However, the author’s intent is not clear considering the two statements were not contradicting but rather consistent. The CDC’s “sharp rebuke” was a result of “the evolution of the science”.
Some argued the new directives were too unclear and reliant on an honor system that could require essential workers to police vaccination records, while others questioned whether the move was intended to spur more Americans to get vaccinated amid a steady decline in innovations. Fauci said the agency would release more specific guidelines and “significant clarifications” in coming weeks on mask wearing.
By speculating, the author can further push his bias that Dr.Fauci and the CDC are unreliable. Moreover, the author themself embedded a quote from Dr. Fauci stating that the guidelines were not intended to get more people vaccinated, but yet chooses to entertain the conspiracy.
“So even though there are breakthrough infections with vaccinated people, almost always the people are asymptomatic and the level of virus is so low it makes it extremely unlikely — not impossible — but very, very low likelihood that they’re going to transmit it,” Fauci said.
Close to 47% of the adult population in the U.S. is fully vaccinated, according to data published by the CDC, while nearly 60% of the adult population has received at least one dose. The vaccination rate is expected to rise shortly following the Food and Drug Administration’s approval this week for the use of the Pfizer vaccine in children between the ages of 12 and 15.
Fauci said the data shows that getting vaccinated makes people “dead ends” for the virus to spread within their communities. “When you get vaccinated, you not only protect your own health and that of the family, but also you contribute to the community health by preventing the spread of the virus throughout the community,” he said. “In other words, you become a dead-end to the virus. And when there are a lot of dead ends around, the virus is not going to go anywhere.”
In an article made to critique the mask policy, the author spends over three paragraphs talking about the vaccine with no mention of the mask guideline. This rant comes after the author’s comment about people believing that the mask guideline was created to get more people vaccinated. Whether intentional or not, the author draws a parallel between the guideline speculation and Fauci’s insistence on the vaccine.
Written by: Celeste R.