Sunday, February 21, 2021

Dr Fauci Says We Can Hug Our Family Members At Home If We've Had The Shot

According to Fox News,

White House chief medical adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci said Thursday that it's "very likely" that family members who have been vaccinated against coronavirus can safely hug each other.

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director explained that what vaccinated individuals can safely do with family members and in a public setting differ greatly.

If an individual is vaccinated and with another person who is vaccinated, the things they can do are "much, much more liberal in the sense of pulling back on stringent public health measures," Fauci said during an interview on MSBNC with host Andrea Mitchell.

But wait a moment. Last August he said people could hook up on Tinder, and that was even before the jab:

"[I]t's what's called relative risk," Fauci said. "If you're willing to take a risk — and you know, everybody has their own tolerance for risks — you could figure out if you want to meet somebody."

. . . "If you're looking for a friend, sit in a room and put a mask on, and you know, chat a bit. If you want to go a little bit more intimate, well, then that's your choice regarding a risk," Fauci said.

So let me see. Just this past week, what he seemed to be saying was that if they've both been vaccinated, your toddler can hug mama, or something like that, as long as it's in private. (I assume doing it in public would set a bad example.) But last August, if you wanted to hook up wth a stranger, no vax involved, that was up to you. Is there one rule for swingers and another for the nuclear family, or what?

But people are starting to notice that anything like a policy statement from Fauci should be written in wind and running water:

Remember that line 'you can still spread it even if you get vaccinated? What kind of anti-science crapola is that? On top of this illogical tripe, we have ever-changing narratives coming from the so-called expert class that is driving all of us insane (via NBC News):

A growing body of evidence suggests that the Covid-19 vaccine can slow the spread of the coronavirus, Dr. Anthony Fauci said Wednesday. Whether vaccination can prevent transmission of the virus is “the looming question,” Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said during a White House coronavirus response team briefing. “If a person gets infected despite being vaccinated — we refer to that as a ‘breakthrough’ infection — does that person have the capability of transmitting to another person?”

“There have been some studies that are pointing in a very favorable direction,” he said, adding that these studies will have to be corroborated by additional research.

Fauci highlighted two recent studies that looked at a person’s viral load — that is, how much virus he or she has in the body — and transmissibility.

The main problem is that for Fauci, talking to the media is like singing in the shower. He likes to hear himself, and that's about it. If he contradicts himself week in and week out, that's not a bug, it's a feature.

On serious matters of public policy, the government needs to have a clear and consistent message. The White House and the CDC need to be on the same page. But Fauci isn't even the CDC, though he has a high-paying job there, he's just running off at the mouth on his own account, with an official position to give him a platform for it.

This is where the Trump White House communications office fell down badly. Fauci should have been told to coordinate all remarks via the White House in his official capacity, and if he didn't, he should have effectively had his mike turned off. The Biden White House is making the same mistake -- if anything, it's worse. At least Dr Birx had the sense to retire once xhe embarrassed herself.