The mask argument is all but over, and you are on the losing side. Give it up. You've been moving goalposts and trying to discount evidence as it suits you for months, and it's just pathetic watching you squirm.
The fact that you think masks work as some proven fact shows your extreme bias. You want them to work so you believe the data says they work. There is no data showing masks work. There's literally 2 randomized studies on masks and that's it. Even fucking "far left, must do everything possible to slow the spread" CNN has said masks are just facial decorations now. Now you gotta wear N95 masks even though your vaxxed. The vax is so good yet you gotta wear even better masks now, fucking shit messaging right there.
Because it's not usefully answerable. It's the pointless bleating of someone who doesn't understand how stuff works.
People would have died irrespective of what Fauci said: there is no counterfactual to work out how much difference what he said makes. Remembering here particularly that Fauci is a government advisor, and advisors do not decide policy. In terms of Joe Rogan, it is in practice impossible to separate out what effect he has from all the other societal inputs going into people's opinion.
My general stance though is that I have more respect for people who make the wrong decision because they don't have enough information to know better, and people who make the wrong decisions when they do have the information to know better. In which case, Fauci is leagues ahead of Rogan.
I knew the virus was here in February, it was common fucking sense. If I was asked the same thing Fauci was at that same time, I would've warned people that the virus was here, and the older you are, the more careful you should be. Other doctors were sounding the alarm in January. How many young healthy people have actually died from this virus? I'd be surprised if it was more than 100 in the US. Rogan's influence, even if every single young healthy person listened to him and followed his lead, would've been responsible for barely any deaths. There's probably more deaths over stupid social media challenges than what Rogan has caused.
Which is a shame considering you've spouted so much rampant bullshit over the last few years.
The reputations of public health experts are really important, because trust is essential to convincing people. It is not that Fauci is faultless, it is understanding that he has done his best to pass on evidence-based knowledge in good faith for the public good. Fauci is being heavily smeared because he offended against the cult of Trump for disagreeing with their orange god, by anti-government fanatics, and cranks with stupid ideas about what's good for people and think they know better. The result of this smear campaign is to greatly reduce the effectiveness of someone who (as far as I can see) is a well-meaning and responsible public servant.
What bullshit?
The reputation of the CDC is a joke regardless of what side you're on now (the left or right). The left has totally memed the CDC (the CDC says...) after they lowered quarantine from 10 or 14 days (I forget which it was) to 5 days even though that actually makes sense because there's no reason to need 10 days off from covid for most people with prior immunity. Why would I care about what Fauci says when he's always late to the party about everything? Why would I care about what the CDC director says when she spouts blatant lies (masks are 80% effective LMAO)?