Fauci spotted at Georgetown book party playing mask on/mask off

Dr. Anthony Fauci was spotted Tuesday evening celebrating the release of ABC News chief Washington correspondent Jonathan Karl's new book and reportedly putting on and taking off his mask at the event, despite being fully vaccinated.

D.C. author and Washington Post columnist Sally Quinn, who once modeled a love interest in an erotic novel after Fauci, reportedly questioned the country's top infectious disease expert's use of his mask, which he reportedly kept in his hand for most of the evening.

"I just decided that if anyone came up that I didn't know, I would put my mask on," Fauci reportedly told Quinn, at the event at swanky D.C. restaurant Café Milan.  

Guests at the event were required to show proof of vaccination. The D.C. indoor mask mandate remains in place until Monday, at which point it will become optional in some locations. 

"He knew everyone was vaccinated," said Quinn, in defense of Fauci's  mask tactics. "If it was someone we knew, he would trust them, and if it was somebody else, he didn’t. He was being safe."

Last week, Fauci told a House select subcommittee on the coronavirus: "We're not going to have to wear masks forever," but in terms of taking them off, "we're not there yet."

Karl's book is titled "Betrayal: The Final Act of the Trump Show."