Fact check: Claim misrepresents Fauci's comments on masks, COVID-19 from New York Times magazine

Sudiksha Kochi, USA TODAY
·5 min read
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The claim: Fauci admitted masks were a failure

An April 25 Instagram post (direct link, archive link) makes a claim about Dr. Anthony Fauci's comments in an April 24 interview with the New York Times.

“‘Masks work at the margins-maybe 10 percent.’ Anthony Fauci, New York Times. 4/24/2023,” reads the post’s text. “Translation: 90%+ of the time, they’re pointless. A culture war, physical violence, dehumanization, children restricting airways while outside…for a ‘maybe’ 10% delay of inevitable infection. Great job ‘science.’”

Part of the post’s caption reads, “Fauci publicly admitted masks were a failure."

The post generated over 8,000 likes in less than a week. Similar posts have received hundreds of likes on Instagram.

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Our rating: False

Fauci never admitted masks were a failure in the interview. Rather, he acknowledged that while mask use of an overall population may only be marginally effective against disease transmission, an individual who regularly wears a high-quality mask can be effectively protected.

Post misrepresents Fauci's comments

On April 24, New York Times Magazine columnist David Wallace-Wells interviewed Fauci, formerly the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, about public health initiatives taken during the COVID-19 pandemic and the role Fauci played in guiding the nation's response to COVID-19.

But Fauci never said in the interview that masks were a failure.

The quote featured in the Instagram post is part of a larger exchange that began when Wallace-Wells asked Fauci whether the “culture-war fights” over masks were “worth it.” He said the effects of masking can be small at the population level.

During the exchange, Wallace-Wells referenced a Bangladesh study that found increased mask use in villages from in-person interventions diminished transmission of COVID-19 by about 10% compared to areas that did not promote mask use.

In response, Fauci said:

"It’s a good point in general, but I disagree with your premise a bit. From a broad public-health standpoint, at the population level, masks work at the margins – maybe 10 percent. But for an individual who religiously wears a mask, a well-fitted KN95 or N95, it’s not at the margin. It really does work."

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Fauci did not admit that masks were a failure in this context, according to Dr. Amesh Adalja, an infectious disease specialist at Johns Hopkins University, told USA TODAY.

"The point he’s making is that at a population level – accounting for people’s mask-wearing habits and the quality of masks they employ – masks were only marginally effective at achieving their goal of diminished transmission," Adalja said. "But, on an individual basis someone who wears a high-quality mask regularly, they are effective."

Dr. Richard Martinello, an infectious disease specialist at Yale University, agreed the post misconstrues Fauci's comments.

"He is admitting that masks are not perfectly protective, and in some well-done studies such as the one from Bangladesh, the effectiveness was present and significant, but not as much as we would like for such an easy intervention," Martinello said.

Martinello added that the main point of the Bangladesh study is that "masks, even when not widely used, can protect the health of a community."

Numerous studies show masks can offer protection

The post's claim that masks are pointless 90% of the time "doesn't make any sense," Dr. Patrick Jackson, an infectious disease specialist at the University of Virginia, told USA TODAY.

"When high-quality masks are worn consistently, they substantially reduce the risk of infection," Jackson said in an email. "That was obvious from the beginning of the pandemic when nurses and doctors relied on masks and face shields to protect ourselves while caring for COVID patients."

Fact check: What's true and what's false about face masks?

Numerous studies also demonstrate that masks can offer protection. For instance, a September 2021 study published in Oxford Academic's Clinical Infectious Diseases journal found that surgical masks reduced viral RNA in aerosols from COVID-19 patients.

Likewise, a November 2022 study in the New England Journal of Medicine found that lifting masking requirements in school districts was associated with an increase in COVID-19 cases among students.

The Bangladesh study was included in a meta-analysis by Cochrane, a medical research nonprofit based in the U.K. The nonprofit debunked claims that the review showed "masks don't work," calling the assertions "inaccurate and misleading."

USA TODAY reached out to the user who shared the claim for comment but did not immediately receive a response.

The Associated Press, AFP and PolitiFact also debunked the claim.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Fact check: Claim misrepresents Fauci's comments on masks, COVID-19