Dr. Anthony Fauci, President Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser, who is gearing up to retire from government at the end of this year, says he had nothing to do with COVID-19-related school shutdowns.
The longtime head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases made the claim in an interview with ABC. When asked by journalist Jonathan Karl as to whether it was a mistake to close schools for as long as they were, Fauci at first appeared to defend the practice, pointing to fatalities from COVID-19 among children, before denying he had anything to do with the policy and even claiming he actively pushed against it.
STUDENTS SUFFER LARGEST LEARNING LOSS IN 30 YEARS AFTER PANDEMIC SCHOOL CLOSURES
“If you go back, and I ask anybody to go back over the number of times that I’ve said we’ve got to do everything we can to keep the schools open, no one plays that clip,” he said. “They always come back and say, ‘Fauci is responsible for closing the schools.’ I had nothing to do [with it], I mean, let’s get down to the facts.”
Despite his assertion, Fauci’s own public statements throughout the pandemic, including the earliest days, when school closures were being contemplated, show the leading health official opined in favor of shutdowns.
On March 20, 2020, Fauci told PBS, “So, clearly, in certain circumstances, particularly in areas where there’s community spread, the schools should be closed.”
As late as September 2020, Fauci told CNN that schools should only open up “once the virus is under control,” as pointed out by National Review.
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School shutdowns have come under increased criticism as more research has come out detailing their negative effects, mainly skyrocketing mental health issues among students and a massive decline in learning. Recent studies have shown that students have suffered the largest loss in learning in over 30 years due to COVID-19-related school shutdowns.
