Politics
Released text message shows epidemiologist warned federal officials about cloth mask limitations in 2021
A text message released by Sen. Ron Johnson reveals Michael Osterholm warned top COVID-19 advisers that cloth masks provided very limited protection against aerosol transmission.
The short version
- Sen. Ron Johnson released an August 2021 text message sent by epidemiologist Michael Osterholm to top Biden administration health officials, including Anthony Fauci and Rochelle Walensky.
- Osterholm stated that cloth face coverings offered very limited benefit against SARS-CoV-2 transmission and argued that CDC-cited studies supporting them failed to hold up to scientific scrutiny.
- The message noted that transmission was largely driven by aerosols rather than droplets, requiring N95 respirators to effectively reduce risk.
- Osterholm explicitly stated he was communicating via text message to avoid public records requests under the Freedom of Information Act.
Key facts
- Sen. Ron Johnson released a text message sent in August 2021 by University of Minnesota epidemiologist Michael Osterholm to federal health officials.[Fox News]
- The recipients of Osterholm's message included officials identified as Jeff Zients, Vivek Murthy, Anthony Fauci, and Rochelle Walensky.[Fox News]
- Osterholm stated in his message that he chose to communicate via text messaging to avoid Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) issues.[Fox News]
- In the message, Osterholm asserted that cloth face coverings provided very limited benefit against SARS-CoV-2 risk and that transmission was primarily aerosol-driven.[Fox News]
- Osterholm wrote that an expert review group evaluating respiratory protection studies found that CDC-cited studies supporting cloth masks did not withstand scientific scrutiny.[Fox News]
What remains uncertain
- The named recipients of the text message have not publicly responded to or verified the contents of the released communication.[Fox News]