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  • 2020-10-26 (xsd:date)
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  • Did Fauci Blame Mask Use for 1918 'Spanish Flu' Deaths? (en)
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  • In October 2020, after more than 225,000 people had died in the United States and after the repeated insistence from public health officials that mask use helped slow the spread of COVID-19, rumors continued to circulate on social media that attempted to negate the use of this simple protective device. One such rumor claimed that Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), had written in a 2008 study that mask use was responsible for many of the deaths during the 1918 flu pandemic. Another Facebook user wrote: Dr. Fauci saying masks should be mandated. Even though in 2008 he wrote a paper saying the MAJORITY OF THE PEOPLE THAY DIED IN THE 1918 SPANISH FLU DIED FROM SECONDARY BACTERIAL PNEUMONIA AS A DIRECT RESULT OF THE USE OF FACE MASKS. Fauci did not blame mask use for any deaths that occurred during the 1918 Spanish flu. In fact, the paper mentioned in the above-displayed Facebook posts doesn't even mention masks. In October 2008, Fauci co-authored a paper published in The Journal of Infectious Diseases about the role that bacterial pneumonia played during the 1918 flu pandemic (commonly referred to by the misnomer Spanish flu). An estimated 50 million people died during the 1918 flu pandemic, with approximately 675,000 of those deaths taking place in the United States. The paper co-authored by Fauci in 2008 found that these deaths weren't caused by the flu alone, but that the majority likely resulted directly from secondary bacterial pneumonia. Fauci said in a contemporary news release: While some social media users presented this study as a cautionary tale against mask use — incorrectly claiming that it was the masks that were responsible for the development of bacteria — Fauci's paper actually highlighted the need to stockpile antibiotics and bacterial vaccines as well as antiviral drugs and influenza vaccines in order to properly combat a pandemic. Another excerpt from this news release explained: In other words, this paper did not blame mask use for causing these bacterial infections. That connection — that mask use is actually dangerous because it causes bacterial infections — was made by social media users and is one that has been repeatedly shot down by experts. In June 2020, The Associated Press investigated the false claim that mask use leads to bacterial pneumonia. Davidson Hamer, infectious disease specialist and professor of global health and medicine at Boston University, said at the time: Reuters spoke with the global team of health experts at LeanAboutCovid19.com, and were told that there was no evidence that regular mask use increased the risk of developing any bacterial, fungal or viral infection in the lung. A statement from LeanAboutCovid19.com reads: Doctors at Lawrence Memorial Hospital in Lawrence, Kansas, also addressed this claim in an article debunking common mask myths. While one doctor noted that it was important to clean masks to prevent bacterial build-up, both noted that regular mask use does not lead to bacterial, fungal, or viral infections. In short: In 2008, Fauci co-authored a report stating that the majority of deaths during the 1918 flu pandemic likely resulted directly from secondary bacterial pneumonia. This paper did not state that this secondary bacterial pneumonia had been caused by mask use. In addition to the fact that this study doesn't mention or deal with masks, a multitude of experts have since dismissed the notion that masks increase the risk of bacterial infections. (en)
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