Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, speak during a press briefing with the coronavirus task force, at the White House, Monday, March 16, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

When it comes to the so-called “fact checkers” in the media, I find the Washington Post’s Glenn Kessler hit or miss – but mostly miss.

Sadly, the latter was the case for Kessler on Friday after he took aim at Dr. Anthony Fauci, who is the NIAID director and a key member of the White House’s Coronavirus Task Force team.

In a Thursday interview he did with MSNBC News’ Lester Holt, Fauci talked about some of the major differences between Italy’s response to the Wuhan coronavirus and the United States’. One of the big differences, Fauci noted, was in our approach to China and European travel:

“Our shutting off travel from China and, more recently, travel from Europe, has gone a long way to not seeding very, very intensively the virus in our country. Unfortunately, Italy did not do that. They had an open border, they let people in, and until they really knew they were in trouble, then the cat was out, the horse was out of the barn and that was it.”

Watch:

Dr. Fauci responds to question about differences between U.S. and Italy, says @realDonaldTrump stopping travel very early from China "has gone a long way" in fight against coronavirus

"Unfortunately, Italy did not do that. They had an open border."
pic.twitter.com/bf62gVytrH

— Elizabeth Harrington (@LizRNC) March 20, 2020

Kessler took exception. In two tweets, he referenced Italy’s supposed “no exception” travel ban on China, and called Fauci’s remarks “puzzling”:

This comment by Fauci is puzzling because Italy halted all flights to/from China on Jan. 31, days before Trump. It was even broader than the US ban. I have contacted NIH to clarify, but here's the Italian announcement –> https://t.co/h5dZ2UV5sC https://t.co/OJQvqvNRxd

— Glenn Kessler (@GlennKesslerWP) March 20, 2020

More: The Italian ban was complete, no flights, no exceptions. Trump's action let airlines keep flying, with restrictions that contained wide exemptions. https://t.co/Mf0FcbINl8

— Glenn Kessler (@GlennKesslerWP) March 20, 2020

Kessler was so sure he was right and that Fauci was wrong that he even churned out a “fact check” about the issue, issuing four Pinocchios to Fauci:

Full fact check with NIH response. –> https://t.co/Z9Vn9bYMWy

— Glenn Kessler (@GlennKesslerWP) March 20, 2020

I pointed out to Kessler last night, however, that his fact check was flawed:

Furthermore, @GlennKesslerWP, Italy did not seal their borders. Though to/from flights from China were banned, flights from most other countries were not, which meant ppl could fly into EU countries & then into Italy. That's what Fauci was talking about.https://t.co/RgytaSNgV2 https://t.co/LwI1N43lmk

— Sister Toldjah 😁 (@sistertoldjah) March 21, 2020

Not only that, but infected people in those same EU countries had full access to Italy thanks to their open borders:

While Italy banned flights, the open borders of the EU Schengen Area meant that as long as other members nations weren’t banning flights, travellers could still make their way to Italy. With without reinstitution of land border controls, Italy still remained vulnerable.

— OldHound (@HCHyson) March 20, 2020

The context of Fauci’s remarks make that clear. Let’s read them again:

“Our shutting off travel from China and, more recently, travel from Europe, has gone a long way to not seeding very, very intensively the virus in our country. Unfortunately, Italy did not do that. They had an open border, they let people in.”

Also, Kessler made it a point to paint Italy and the WHO’s China apologists as more proactive and quick to respond to the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak than the United States. In particular, Kessler boasted of how “On Jan. 30, the World Health Organization declared a global health emergency because of the rapid spread of the coronavirus.”

Kessler did not mention, however, that the Trump administration declared a public health emergency the very next day:

Odd you did NOT note in your "fact check that Trump declared a public health emergency on Jan. 31, the day after WHO declared a global health emergency (the latter of which you did point out). I'm sure this was completely unintentional, @GlennKesslerWP. https://t.co/FvarpWsZli https://t.co/RgytaSNgV2

— Sister Toldjah 😁 (@sistertoldjah) March 21, 2020

There were also a number of other things the Trump administration did in January and February related to combating the Wuhan coronavirus that Kessler oddly did not mention.

Fact checkers are entitled to their own points of view, but they’re not entitled to pick and choose what facts they want to include/not include in order to paint a false narrative. That’s especially true when your country is in the middle of a pandemic.

That’s what Kessler did here, unfortunately, which seems to be the standard operating procedure at the Washington Post. But the good news is that I didn’t even have to break a sweat in order to correct him for the record.