Dr. Fauci Admits Social Distancing Wasn't Backed By Science During Grueling Hearing: 6-Foot Rule 'Sort Of Just Appeared'
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, was testified before the Select Subcommittee for the second time regarding the nation's response to the Covid-19 pandemic and its efficacy.
While he acknowledges that lockdowns were necessary due to the fact that the virus was reportedly killing nearly 5,000 people per day, he admits that the duration of time that citizens were kept in place was "debatable."
"I think things we did in the beginning were in the context of a horrible situation of 4,000 to 5,000 deaths per day, but that doesn't mean that you don't go back and look and say, 'Did everything we do at that point and the duration for which we did it, was that appropriate and do we need to re examine?' " Fauci stated, per The Daily Mail.
The media outlet reported that in January, the 83-year-old told Republicans that the six feet rule "sort of just appeared," revealing that he can't be sure where it came from. Fauci also revealed that he was "not aware of the studies" and added they'd be "very difficult" to do.
The well-known 6-foot social distancing rule presented by the CDC was likely not based on scientific data, as Fauci described the recommendation as "an empiric decision that wasn't based on data," according to transcripts released Friday from a closed-door congressional meeting.
Scott Gottlieb, the former Food and Drug Administration commissioner, claimed the six-foot distancing rule was "probably the single most costly intervention the CDC recommended that was consistently applied throughout the pandemic," as written in his book 'Uncontrolled Spread.'
Harvard University expert in environmental health, Joseph Allen, claims the practice of six-foot distancing was an error rooted in misinformation from the start.
"The six-foot rule was really an error that had been propagated for several decades, based on a misunderstanding of how particles traveled through indoor spaces," Allen said per The Washington Post, adding that experts were wrong to focus on infected people rather than improved ventilation.
Republicans grilled Fauci during Monday's fiery hearing, who maintained that he kept an "open mind" regarding the origins of Covid, and adamantly denied "lab leak" and "gain of function" theories.
