Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerburg interviewed Dr. Fauci on Facebook Live with the purpose to urge his users to abide by CDC rules to help prevent the spread of the Coronavirus.  Zuckerburg used the opportunity to praise the doctor and medical professionals while equally slamming the Trump administration.  Zuckerberg said it is Trump’s fault the United States is behind the rest of the world, in his view. 

Zuckerberg said during the interview that a lot of the Coronavirus effects could have been prevented, saying, “You know, I was certainly sympathetic early on when it was clear that there would be some outbreaks, no matter how well we handle this.”  Facebook has been under attack, however, for the allowance of misinformation to spread about the Coronavirus on its platform.  He continued to speak negatively about Trump.  “But now that we’re here in July, I just think that it was avoidable and it’s really disappointing that we still don’t have adequate testing, that the credibility of the top scientists like yourself and the CDC is being undermined, an that until recently, parts of the administration were calling into question whether people should even follow basic best practices like wearing masks.”

Fauci used the interview to urge young people to do their part to help prevent the spread of the virus by not attending large social gatherings and maintaining social distance.  He also criticized states for opening too early, or not following the CDC’s guidelines. Fauci said, “You have got to do it correctly. You can’t jump over steps, which is very perilous when you think about rebound. The proof of the pudding is, look what has happened. There really is no reason that we are having 40, 50, 60 thousand, other than we are not doing something correctly.”

Regarding face masks, Fauci said the change to making it a requirement (it wasn’t in the beginning of the shutdown), was because there was a shortage, and they were not sure if there were asymptomatic carriers.  This information, however, caused many people to distrust the requirement that now they have to wear a mask.  He urged everyone to wear one, and said that masks have no negative effects on your health.  “There has not been any indication that putting a mask on, and wearing a mask for a  considerable period of time, has any deleterious effects on oxygen exchange and things like that,” Fauci said. 

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