By Jack Phillips
Pfizer board member Scott Gottlieb said that cloth masks do not provide much protection against the Omicron CCP virus variant, in the midst of a spike of cases nationwide.
Scott Gottlieb testifies during a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing on April 5, 2017 at on Capitol Hill in Washington. (Zach Gibson/Getty Images)
Gottlieb, a former Food and Drug Administration (FDA) commissioner, said that scientists understand the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, which causes COVID-19, transmits via airborne particles. Cloth face coverings are not very effective at stopping those particles, as opposed to transmission via droplets, he said in a CBS interview on Sunday.
“Cloth masks aren’t going to provide a lot of protection, that’s the bottom line. This is an airborne illness. We now understand that, and a cloth mask is not going to protect you from a virus that spreads through airborne transmission. It could protect better through droplet transmission, something like the flu, but not something like this coronavirus,” Gottlieb told CBS News‘ “Face the Nation.”
Gottlieb noted on Twitter that Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont, a Democrat, “deployed millions of N95 masks to high-risk settings, schools,” and other locations. “If we’re asking [the] public to assume more individual responsibility to protect themselves, and not implementing population-wide measures, we must make sure people can access tools needed to stay safe,” he argued.
About a week ago, Lamont drew headlines when he told reporters that he doesn’t believe masks work against the Omicron variant. To make his claim, Lamont cited a growing number of COVID-19 cases in New York City, the most densely populated area in the United States, which also requires masks to be worn in indoor public areas.
“If I think about things, I certainly think about nursing homes and other congregate settings where I think the booster shot is probably the number one priority, to make sure everybody that can be boosted is boosted there. That would be my next priority,” Lamont added.
In New York, Gov. Kathy Hochul, also a Democrat, announced last month that businesses in her state will have to either require masks or proof of COVID-19 vaccination. However, days later, Hochul appeared to go back on her order and said counties have the option to opt out.
Read More From The PatriotAmerican
Some county executives said it would be impossible to enforce such a mandate.
“My health department has critical things to do that are more important than enforcing this, and I think small businesses have been through enough already,” Orange County Executive Steve Neuhaus, a Republican, told news outlets last month. “God forbid the governor directs the state police to go out and enforce it.”