Does Fauci wear a mask when he goes running?

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and a dedicated runner, answers a question at the center of his two passions: Does he wear a mask when going for a run?

Video transcript

ALEXANDER NAZARYAN: I'm a runner like you. Do you wear a mask when you run?

ANTHONY FAUCI: You know, what I do, and to be honest with you, I do. I put the mask on, and I will be, you know, doing power walking, running. And usually, in our neighborhood of Northwest DC, there are a lot of people out.

ALEXANDER NAZARYAN: Right.

ANTHONY FAUCI: So when I-- as you know, when you breathe in, it feels like you're waterboarding yourself.

ALEXANDER NAZARYAN: Yeah.

ANTHONY FAUCI: So what I do is I leave it on. When I see that there's nobody within 100 feet of me, I might take it down and breathe regularly. When I see people coming and there are people walking on the street, I put the mask back on so that when I'm way far from them-- maybe 40 feet, 30 feet, 20 feet-- as soon as I pass them and I'm alone again, I'll take it down a little. I think that's reasonable. You don't have to have it on if there's nobody around.