“I’m going to upset people on this, but I think we should,” Fauci said. “We are in a critical situation now. We’ve had 615,000 plus deaths, and we are in a major surge now as we’re going into the fall, into the school season. This is very serious business.”

Fauci added a clarification that “you’re not going to get mandates centrally from the federal government,” though he continued to speak in favor of mandates implemented by governors, schools, and local businesses.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I know people must like to have their individual freedom and not be told to do something, but I think we’re in such a serious situation now that under certain circumstances, mandates should be done.”