WATCH: 'Masks are not theater,' Dr. Fauci says скачать в хорошем качестве

WATCH: 'Masks are not theater,' Dr. Fauci says

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert, reiterated the importance of wearing masks right now to protect against COVID-19 — even if a person has been vaccinated — because of virus variants currently spreading throughout the U.S., against which vaccines may be less effective. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., asked Fauci during a March 18 Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions hearing why widespread mask-wearing was needed when significant coronavirus reinfections were not happening. Fauci said the senator was missing key context: that variants are now spreading throughout the country, as opposed to "wild-type," which refers to the original virus that causes COVID-19. "When you talk about reinfection and you don't keep in the concept of variants, that's an entirely different ballgame. That's a good reason for a mask," Fauci said during a back-and-forth exchange with Paul. "I agree with you that you very likely would have protection from wild-type for at least six months, if you're infected. But we, in our country now, have variants that are circulating." Paul then accused Fauci of wearing a mask for theater and that "there's no science behind it," even though numerous scientific studies provide overwhelming evidence that wearing a mask prevents transmission of the virus. "Masks are not theater," Fauci, the head of the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, responded. "Masks are protective." Stream your PBS favorites with the PBS app: https://to.pbs.org/2Jb8twG Find more from PBS NewsHour at https://www.pbs.org/newshour Subscribe to our YouTube channel: https://bit.ly/2HfsCD6 Follow us: Facebook: http://www.pbs.org/newshour Twitter:   / newshour   Instagram:   / newshour   Subscribe: PBS NewsHour podcasts: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/podcasts Newsletters: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/subscribe