
he wasn't recommending over the counter masks, dummy. He never not recommended N95's etc, which is what professionals actually use. Read the damn thing you posted sometime.
There was an interview in 60 minutes, IIRC, where he explained why that was at the time, which also got spread about as him not recommending masks.
At the time we didn't know if the virus stuck to surfaces, and thus using unproven masks meant you had your hands all over your mouth and nose, potentially making things worse.
Again, this is revisionist history. Fauci certainly recommends masks now that he has the data to back up they're effective.