Former FDA Chief Says Social Distancing Mandate ‘Wasn’t Based on Clear Science’

Scott Gottlieb testifies during a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington on April 5, 2017. Zach Gibson/Getty Images

Former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said that the six-foot social distancing mandate that was employed across much of the United States and the world to deal with the CCP virus pandemic “wasn’t based on clear science.”

“This six-foot distancing requirement has probably been the single costliest mitigation tactic that we’ve employed in response to COVID ... and it really wasn’t based on clear science. ... We should have re-adjudicated this much earlier,” he said in an interview with CNBC.

Amid the relaxation of CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus guidelines—including one from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) saying it’s safe for schoolchildren to have three-foot distancing—Gottlieb suggested that masks may also be safely removed.

“We now know that the vaccines dramatically reduce your chance of both contracting COVID and becoming symptomatic to the point where you are going to have a bad outcome; we also know it reduces asymptomatic disease and reduces transmission ... we are seeing that in the data,” he said.

Gottlieb also was asked about a public dispute between Dr. Anthony Fauci, the head of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), who also is a physician, about whether masks should be worn after a recipient is vaccinated for the CCP virus, which causes the disease COVID-19.

“You’re telling everyone to wear a mask,” Paul told Fauci, who has faced increasing pushback over his statements in the press. “If we’re not spreading the infection, isn’t it just theater? You have the vaccine and you’re wearing two masks, isn’t that theater?”

Fauci responded by saying that “masks are not theater” and that he “totally disagree[s]” with Paul’s statement.

Gottlieb said “both [Paul and Fauci] made valid points,” but noted that “Senator Paul was right, we need to see light at the end of the tunnel and have guidance that prescribes an environment where people can start doing things again.”

CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said on March 19 that new studies have shown that in schools, three-foot distancing is sufficient if other health safeguards are in place. Studies have found that there is a low transmission of the virus in schools.

“These include universal and correct use of masks, physical distancing, hand washing, and respiratory etiquette, cleaning to maintain healthy facilities and diagnostic testing with rapid and efficient contact tracing in combination with isolation in quarantine and in collaboration with local health departments,” Walensky told CNN.