ANTHONY FAUCI/CORONAVIRUS: “Back then [in March 2020], the critical issue was to save the masks for the people who really needed them, because it was felt that there was a shortage of masks. Also, we didn’t realize at all the extent of asymptotic spread [of coronavirus]… because 20-40 percent of the people who are infected don’t even know that they’re infected.
But what happened is that as the weeks and months came by, two things became clear. One, that there wasn’t a shortage of masks, we had plenty of masks and covering that you could put on that’s plain cloth covering so that took care of that problem.
Secondly, we fully realized that there are a lot of people who are asymptomatic who are spreading infection. So it became clear that we absolutely should be wearing masks consistently.”
-Anthony Fauci, “Washington Post Live: Fauci on how his thinking has evolved on masks, asymptomatic transmission,” washingtonpost.com, July 24, 2020