In a recent interview, former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director Dr. Anthony Fauci, the foremost U.S. public-health official during the COVID-19 pandemic, said that school closures went on for too long.

Key Details: Research by the Center for School and Student Progress has shown that it might take at least five years for students to completely catch up on the education they lost during COVID-19. The widest gap was seen in Latino, black and low-income communities.

Key Quote: “Shutting down everything immediately — and we didn’t shut it down completely — but essentially major social distancing and even schools was the right thing,” Fauci told CBS News (Lean Left bias). “How long you kept it was the problem, because there was a disparity throughout the country. If you go back and look at the YouTube, I kept on saying, ‘Close the bars, open the schools. Open the schools as quickly and as safely as you possibly can.’ But initially to close it down was correct. Keeping it for a year was not a good idea.”

For Context: In some areas, school closures lasted for more than a year. According to several academic studies, this was especially true in school districts with left-wing teachers unions. Red states such as Florida opened schools quicker and adhered to less stringent COVID-19 lockdown policies.

How the Media Covered it: Other than CBS News, AllSides didn't find any coverage of Fauci's comments from left-rated news sources.