Health
Fauci admits social distancing not based on science, 'sort of just appeared'
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the public face of the U.S. coronavirus pandemic response, told lawmakers this week that the social distancing recommendations forced on Americans “sort of just appeared” and were likely not based on scientific data.
Fauci, 83, made the startling revelation in a closed-door interview with the House Select Committee on Coronavirus Pandemic. He also testified that the lab leak hypothesis — which was often suppressed — was not a conspiracy theory and that the policies and mandates he promoted may increase vaccine hesitancy in the future, Committee Chair Brad Wenstrup, R-Ohio, wrote in a statement Wednesday.
Wenstrup’s committee has been investigating whether government officials at the time, including Fauci, worked to suppress questions about whether the pandemic was the result of a lab leak in Wuhan, China.
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Republicans have accused those officials of pushing the natural origin theory in a bid to protect China.
Fauci became a politically polarizing figure during the pandemic. He was vilified by those opposed to lockdowns, masking rules and vaccine mandates, while being idolized by those who agreed with the government’s actions.
Dr. Anthony Fauci arrives for a closed-door interview with the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic at the U.S. Capitol on Monday. At right, people comply with social distancing rules during the pandemic in New York City. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images | Noam Galai/Getty Images)
“Dr. Fauci’s transcribed interview revealed systemic failures in our public health system and shed light on serious procedural concerns with our public health authority,” wrote Wenstrup, a physician of over 30 years.
“It is clear that dissenting opinions were often not considered or suppressed completely. Should a future pandemic arise, America’s response must be guided by scientific facts and conclusive data.”
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Many schools across the country were shuttered in order to comply with the six-foot rule of social distancing in an effort to stop the spread of the virus, while it also helped spur lockdowns and restrictions in public spaces as well as bars and restaurants.
However, Fauci, according to Wenstrup, characterized the development of the guidance by stating “it sort of just appeared.”
Dr. Anthony Fauci is shown wearing a mask during the COVID pandemic. (Ting Shen/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Fauci also acknowledged that the lab leak hypothesis, which claims the coronavirus originated from a lab in Wuhan, is not a conspiracy theory.
In fact, Wenstrup said Fauci played semantics with the definition of a “lab leak” while acknowledging that a lab leak was possible.
Wenstrup said the admission came nearly four years after prompting the publication of the “Proximal Origin” paper that attempted to vilify and disprove the lab leak hypothesis.
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Wenstrup said Fauci also admitted that America’s vaccine mandates during the COVID-19 pandemic could increase vaccine hesitancy in the future and that he had advised American universities to impose vaccine mandates on their students.
“It’s been proven that when you make it difficult for people in their lives, they lose their ideological bulls—, and they get vaccinated,” Fauci previously stated.
Wenstrup also said the committee was “frustrated” by Fauci’s inability to recollect COVID-19 information that was important to the investigation, although he praised him for appearing.
Fauci also denied allegations that he visited the CIA during the pandemic or influenced the CIA’s investigation into the origins of COVID-19.
Committee Chair Brad Wenstrup said Fauci admitted that America’s vaccine mandates during the COVID-19 pandemic could increase vaccine hesitancy in the future. (iStock)
Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul, who has been Fauci’s biggest nemesis, said in an appearance on “The Ingraham Angle” on Tuesday that Fauci lied about the origins of COVID.
“The one thing that’s consistent about Anthony Fauci is that what he says in private is largely true, what he says in public is largely a lie.”
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Added Sen. Paul, “When asked by a fellow co-worker, Sylvia Burwell, he told her the truth. He said the masks don’t work because the pores are bigger than the virus … but then in public he wears three masks and in private he tells his colleagues you don’t need to wear one.”
“It’s the same with immunity, it’s the same with the vaccines, and it’s really the same with gain of function,” Paul said. In basic terms, the point of gain-of-function research is to make a virus more dangerous and supporters argue that the research can prepare scientists to handle it if one day the virus were to mutate naturally.
“In private he said, yes, we’re suspicious that the virus was manipulated, looks manipulated and we know they’re doing gain of function in Wuhan. He describes it — that’s in a private email.”
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“In public, to this day, he still denies that they funded any gain of function research in Wuhan. It’s all an entire lie,” he said.
Fox News Digital’s Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report.
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A new report by the American Heart Association (AHA) included some troubling predictions for the future of women’s health.
The forecast, published in the journal Circulation on Wednesday, projected increases in various comorbidities in American females by 2050.
More than 59% of women were predicted to have high blood pressure, up from less than 49% currently.
The review also projected that more than 25% of women will have diabetes, compared to about 15% today, and more than 61% will have obesity, compared to 44% currently.
As a result of these risk factors, the prevalence of cardiovascular disease and stroke is expected to rise to 14.4% from 10.7%.
The prevalence of cardiovascular disease and stroke in women is expected to rise to 14.4% from 10.7% by 2050. (iStock)
Not all trends were negative, as unhealthy cholesterol prevalence is expected to drop to about 22% from more than 42% today, the report stated.
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Dr. Elizabeth Klodas, a cardiologist and founder of Step One Foods in Minnesota, commented on these “jarring findings.”
“The fact that on our current trajectory, cardiometabolic disease is projected to explode in women within one generation should be a huge wake-up call,” she told Fox News Digital.
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“Hypertension, diabetes, obesity — these are all major risk factors for heart disease, and we are already seeing what those risks are driving. Heart disease is the No. 1 killer of women, eclipsing all other causes of death, including breast cancer.”
Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death for women in the U.S. and around the world. (iStock)
Klodas warned that heart disease starts early, progresses “stealthily,” and can present “out of the blue in devastating ways.”
The AHA published another study on Thursday revealing one million hospitalizations, showing that heart attack deaths are climbing among adults below the age of 55.
The more alarming finding, according to Klodas, is that young women were found more likely to die after their first heart attack than men of the same age.
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“This is all especially tragic since heart disease is almost entirely preventable,” she said. “The earlier you start, the better.”
Children can show early evidence of plaque deposition in their arteries, which can be reversed through lifestyle changes if “undertaken early enough and aggressively enough,” according to the expert.
Moving more is one part of protecting a healthy heart, according to experts. (iStock)
Klodas suggested that rising heart conditions are associated with traditional risk factors, like smoking, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, obesity and a sedentary lifestyle.
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Doctors are also seeing higher rates of preeclampsia, or high blood pressure during pregnancy, as well as gestational diabetes. Klodas noted that these are sex-specific risk factors that don’t typically contribute to complications until after menopause.
The best way to protect a healthy heart is to “do the basics,” Klodas recommended, including the following lifestyle habits.
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Klodas especially emphasized making improvements to diet, as the food people eat affects “every single risk factor that the AHA’s report highlights.”
“High blood pressure, high blood sugar, high cholesterol, excess weight – these are all conditions that are driven in part or in whole by food,” she said. “We eat multiple times every single day, which means what we eat has profound cumulative effects over time.”
“Even a small improvement in dietary intake, when maintained, can have a massive positive impact on health,” a doctor said. (iStock)
“Even a small improvement in dietary intake, when maintained, can have a massive positive impact on health.”
The doctor also recommends changing out a few snacks per day for healthier choices, which has been proven to “yield medication-level cholesterol reductions” in a month.
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“Keep up that small change and, over the course of a year, you could also lose 20 pounds and reduce your sodium intake enough to avoid blood pressure-lowering medications,” Klodas added.
“Women should not view the AHA report as inevitable. We have power over our health destinies. We just need to use it.”
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Nearsightedness (myopia) is skyrocketing globally, with nearly half of the world’s population expected to be myopic by 2050, according to the World Health Organization.
Heavy use of smartphones and other devices is associated with an 80% higher risk of myopia when combined with excessive computer use, but a new study suggests that dim indoor lighting could also be a factor.
For years, scientists have been puzzled by the different ways myopia is triggered. In lab settings, it can be induced by blurring vision or using different lenses. Conversely, it can be slowed by something as simple as spending time outdoors, research suggests.
Nearsightedness occurs when the eyeball grows too long from front to back, according to the American Optometric Association (AOA). This physical elongation causes light to focus in front of the retina rather than directly on it, making distant objects appear blurry.
The study suggests that myopia isn’t caused by the digital devices themselves, but by the low-light environments where they are typically used. (iStock)
Researchers at the State University of New York (SUNY) College of Optometry identified a potential specific trigger for this growth. When someone looks at a phone or a book up close, the pupil naturally constricts.
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“In bright outdoor light, the pupil constricts to protect the eye while still allowing ample light to reach the retina,” Urusha Maharjan, a SUNY Optometry doctoral student who conducted the study, said in a press release.
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“When people focus on close objects indoors, such as phones, tablets or books, the pupil can also constrict — not because of brightness, but to sharpen the image,” she went on. “In dim lighting, this combination may significantly reduce retinal illumination.”
High-intensity natural light prevents myopia because it provides enough retinal stimulation to override the “stop growing” signal, even when pupils are constricted. (iStock)
The hypothesis suggests that when the retina is deprived of light during extended close-up work, it sends a signal for the eye to grow.
In a dim environment, the narrowed pupil allows so little light through that the retinal activity isn’t strong enough to signal the eye to stop growing, the researchers found.
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In contrast, being outdoors provides light levels much brighter than indoors. This ensures that even when the pupil narrows to focus on a nearby object, the retina still receives a strong signal, maintaining healthy eye development.
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The team noted some limitations of the study, including the small subject group and the inability to directly measure internal lens changes, as the bright backgrounds used to mimic the outdoors made pupils too small for standard equipment.
Researchers believe that increasing indoor brightness during close-up work could be a simple, testable way to slow the global nearsightedness epidemic. (iStock)
“This is not a final answer,” Jose-Manuel Alonso, MD, PhD, SUNY distinguished professor and senior author of the study, said in the release.
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“But the study offers a testable hypothesis that reframes how visual habits, lighting and eye focusing interact.”
The study was published in the journal Cell Reports.
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