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Former Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Dr. Anthony Fauci admitted that shutting down schools for more than a year during the COVID-19 pandemic was a "mistake," though still claiming the initial decision to close classrooms was correct, during an appearance on CBS Mornings.
“Keeping it for a year was not a good idea,” Fauci told co-host Tony Dokoupil while discussing his new memoir On Call: A Doctor's Journey in Public Service.
“So, that was a mistake in retrospect?” Dokoupil asked. “We will not repeat it?”
"Absolutely, yeah," Fauci answered.
Fauci, 83, had previously favored the decision to keep students out of classrooms and transition to remote learning alternatives during the COVID-19 pandemic, which included congressional testimony and public statements made to the press. Many schools considered reopening during the summer of 2020, when Fauci and then-President Donald Trump, citing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's guidelines to combat the spread of the virus.
“I disagree with @CDCgov on their very tough & expensive guidelines for opening schools. While they want them open, they are asking schools to do very impractical things. I will be meeting with them!!!” Trump wrote on his Twitter (now-X) account on July 8, 2020.
“There may be some areas where the level of virus is so high that it would not be prudent to bring children back to school,” Fauci argued that August 2020 during a virtual discussion, warning at another time of an “insidious increase” in cases as schoolchildren that was expected for the year.