The researcher leading the US response to COVID-19, Anthony Fauci, says he wishes he could transplant Melbourne's attitude towards wearing face masks to the United States.

In a virtual interview with Melbourne University's dean of medicine, Shitij Kapur, and the director of the Doherty Institute, Sharon Lewin, he praised Australia for containing the virus even though it had a federal system similar to the US which made it hard to achieve consistency in public policy, especially the way Melbourne enforced face masks.