Tony's Diary Package — page 375

Anthony Fauci, director of National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at NIH, attaches his mask before testifying at a Senate Health, Education, and Labor and Pensions Committee on Capitol Hill.Credit...Pool photo by Graeme Jennings Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the country's leading official on infectious diseases, hit back at Mr. Trump on Wednesday for what he called the misrepresentation of Dr. Fauci's stance on masks to curb coronavirus outbreaks. In the first presidential debate Tuesday, Mr. Trump claimed that Dr. Fauci initially said during the pandemic "masks are not good. Then he changed his mind." And responding to former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr.'s assertion that wearing masks could save tens of thousands of lives, Mr. Trump also contended that "Dr. Fauci said the opposite." "Anybody who has been listening to me over the last several months know that a conversation does not go by where I do not strongly recommend that people wear masks," Dr. Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said during an interview on ABC News's "Start Here" podcast. The full interview can be heard tomorrow, ABC said. Dr. Fauci explained that "very early on in the pandemic" authorities initially did not recommend masks in the context of concerns over shortages and hoarding of masks. Dr. Fauci also emphasized that he has clearly been urging people for months to wear masks when it became clear that asymptomatic transmission was spreading the virus, that