Thousands of private emails by American anti-epidemic expert Anthony Fauci revealed the concerns and confusion at the beginning of the new crown epidemic. What can we learn from these emails?
Dr. Fauci is 80 years old this year. He is an expert at the National Institutes of Health. His career has covered seven US presidents. He is the person in charge of the United States‘ response to the new crown virus and has received enthusiastic praise and fierce criticism from the outside world.
The Washington Post, Buzzfeed, and CNN obtained more than 3,000 pages of e-mails through the US Freedom of Information Act. The e-mails are from January to June 2020.
From his conversation, we can learn about the early stage of the outbreak of the new crown pneumonia in the United States, as well as his dealings with the government, domestic and foreign health officials, the media, celebrities, and ordinary Americans.
What was said in the email?
Fauci and his colleagues noticed a claim early on that the new crown virus may have leaked from a laboratory in Wuhan, China.
Last year, experts denied this controversial statement, calling it “extremely impossible.” There is no evidence to support this claim.
However, recently, the international community has been criticized for the inconclusive investigation of the source of the virus, and a few weeks before the new report showed that the virus was officially confirmed, a new coronary pneumonia-related report appeared in the region.
In January 2020, the head of the largest biomedical research institute in the United States sent an email to Dr. Fauci, stating that the “unusual characteristics” of this virus may indicate that it was “by design”. Dr. Fauci said This means that he will communicate over the phone.
In April 2020, Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, sent Fauci an email with the subject “Conspiracy theories becoming popular”. Fauci’s response to this has been completely abridged.
In May of this year, Fauci said that he “does not believe” that the virus is a natural occurrence and expressed support for an investigation.
In the first few months of the virus outbreak, the US government was still developing guidelines for masks, a move that was criticized as adding to the confusion.
In an email with the former US Secretary of Health in February 2020, Fauci stated: “Masks are actually prepared for the infected, the purpose is to prevent them from spreading the virus to the uninfected, not to protect the uninfected. Not infected.”
He also said that the masks bought in the store “cannot really effectively block the virus because the virus is small enough to pass through the material.”
The following month, a friend in the field of public health in China wrote a letter stating that the media incorrectly quoted him saying that masks are not recommended in the West, which is a “big mistake.”
Fauci replied: “I understand. No problem. We will tide over the difficulties together.”
When the public sought answers to the worsening crisis, Fauci answered inquiries from all over the United States, including Hollywood and Silicon Valley.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg invited the Fauci to participate in the new crown virus information center of the social media platform and answer user questions.
Actor Morgan Fairchild asked Fauci what she could do in February. According to reports, in the 1980s, she worked with Fauci during the AIDS epidemic.
Fauci advised her to say on Twitter: “The American public should not be afraid, but should maintain preparations through social distancing, remote work, temporary school closures and other measures to ease the outbreak of the epidemic in the country.”
In addition, shortly after the phone call with Bill Gates, a senior director of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation wrote a letter saying that he was “very concerned” about Fauci’s health and safety.
These emails also show that Dr. Fauci often firmly denies rumors that he has been censored by President Trump.
In February 2020, when he wrote to an unidentified fan, he said: “Actually, I have not been suppressed at all.”
Some emails indicated that Dr. Fauci was disturbed by flattery from all corners of the Internet.
A colleague sent him an e-mail telling him how a store sold out the doughnuts with his portrait. Fauci replied: “It’s surreal. Hope this will stop soon… Nothing. Doubt, this is not comfortable at all.”
In another email, he shared a story about “Fauci Fever” with a witty saying: “It will surprise you. Our society is crazy.”
When actor Brad Pitt played him on “Saturday Night Live” (Saturday Night Live), Fauci happily told his colleagues that a commenter said that Pitt “looks’just like me.’ This sentence made me very happy all year.”
How did it react?
Some conservative politicians and media experts cited these emails when calling for the firing of Fauci. The reason for the firing was his work in response to the epidemic.
U.S. Republican Senator Paul (Rand Paul) often clashed with Fauci at congressional hearings. He said that these emails “very clearly” showed that Fitch was a “big liar.”
On the other side of the political camp, the liberals believed that Fauci’s position was adapted to the scientific evidence known at the time. Others praised his style and tone in replying to various emails.
Fauci’s Ink Test
BBC White House Correspondent Tara McElvey
Fauci’s e-mail is like the Rorschach inkblot test. You see that the information it reveals is more about you than ink. In this case, the ink is these emails.
As far as I know, in small towns and other rural areas in Kansas, Trump supporters think Fauci is a badass. These Republicans said that the virus information he spread was contradictory and distorted science. They also stated that he harmed the then President Trump.
These conservatives refused to wear masks, even in the worst days of the epidemic, they said that this was because the straight men of science were constantly changing, and Fauci himself turned back.
Fauci’s email will deepen their views. With more and more information about the virus, Fauci did change his views on hygiene guidelines, such as wearing a mask. He told someone in February 2020 that they do not need to wear a mask when traveling. Later, he encouraged people to wear it.
In contrast, Fauci is a hero to liberals in the Midwest and other regions. His email deepened their view that he changed people’s views on how to fight the virus based on scientific data, not based on what Trump wanted people to hear.