Fauci is probably hiding because he doesn’t want to admit that wearing a mask wouldn’t have prevented the President from contracting the virus.
Masks were are and never will be to protect the person wearing them. That do one thing and one thing only they capture 10+ micron sized droplets expelled by the person wearing the mask trapping upwards of 90% of those inside the material of the mask. This drastically reduces the number of particles a person generates in their immediate airspace. They also capture nearly all experculate from coughs and sneezes. There is a valid medical and legal reason EVERY doctor, nurse and attendee in surgery wears a mask it is to prevent them patient not the doctor from getting bacteria and viruses FROM the doctor’s and staff inside their open surgical wounds.
Japan never shut down they did however enforce mandatory masks EVERYWHERE ALL THE TIME. and social distancing as well. They even left the subways running. With a population density that exceeds NYC they should have had similar transmission rates on a per 100000 basis they did not. There numbers were and still are a fraction of New York. The reason they didn’t is because masks are effective at limiting the generation AND transport of aerosol particles from the person wearing the mask the science is clear on it. The conservative party stead fast whining like toddlers pitching a temper tantrum is why we are in such bad shape compared to Asia and Europe. People should wear the masks as an act of patriotism to help their fellow American and without a effective widespread vaccine they are the most sure way to normalcy. Herd immunity while not impossible is far FAR away every surology study shows a less than 25% penetration rate anywhere in our country, nowhere near the 70% needed for a virus with an R0 of 2.5 to reduce the R0 to under one. Masks work and are here to stay regardless of who wins in 30 days accepting that and moving on with the right thing for our fellow citizens is the patriotic thing to do. It’s undeniable that the countries with mandatory mask usage have much less infections per 100000 that’s not even up for debate the numbers are that solid.