Concern and Confusion Regarding Dr. Anthony Fauci’s emails? says an article published on BBC.
Private emails leaked
Thousands of private emails from US infectious disease chief Dr. Anthony Fauci have revealed the concern and confusion at the start of the pandemic. So what did we learn from them?
A National Institutes of Health specialist with a career spanning seven US presidents, Dr. Fauci, 80, became the face of the nation’s Covid-19 response and has since been the subject of both effusive praise and ferocious criticism.
The over 3,000 pages of emails, obtained by the Washington Post, Buzzfeed News, and CNN through Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, date from January to June 2020.
His conversations offer a glimpse into the early days of the US Covid outbreak and his dealings with the government, foreign and domestic health officials, the media, celebrities, and everyday Americans.
What do the emails say?
The Wuhan lab theory
Dr. Fauci and his colleagues took notice, in the early days, of the theory that Covid-19 may have leaked from a laboratory in Wuhan, China.
Why the lab-leak theory is being taken seriously
A January 2020 email to Dr. Fauci from the director of the country’s largest biomedical research facility suggested the “unusual features” of the virus may indicate it is “engineered”, prompting Dr. Fauci to say he will reach out via phone.
In April 2020, an email from the National Institute of Health director, Francis Collins, nudged Dr. Fauci with the subject line “conspiracy gains momentum”. The doctor’s response to this is fully redacted.
This May, Dr. Fauci said he is “not convinced” the virus originated naturally and expressed support for an investigation.
On masks
In a February 2020 email exchange with a former US health secretary, Dr. Fauci said: “Masks are really for infected people to prevent them from spreading the infection to people who are not infected rather than protecting uninfected people from acquiring infection.”
He added that store-bought masks are “not really effective in keeping out the virus, which is small enough to pass through material”.
The following month, a friend in the Chinese public health field wrote to say he has been misquoted in the media for saying the West is making a “big mistake” in not recommending mask use.
Dr. Fauci responded: “I understand. No problem. We will get through this together.”
Questions from all sides
As the public sought answers to the worsening crisis, Dr. Fauci fielded inquiries from across the US – including Hollywood and Silicon Valley.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg invited the doctor to participate in the social media platform’s Covid information hub and respond to users’ questions.
Actress Morgan Fairchild – who reportedly collaborated with him during the Aids epidemic of the 1980s – reached out in February asking how she could help.
Dr. Fauci suggested she tweet: “The American public should not be frightened, but should be prepared to mitigate an outbreak in this country by measures including social distancing, teleworking, temporary closure of schools, etc.”
And, soon after a phone call with Bill Gates, a senior executive at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation wrote to say he was “seriously worried” about Dr. Fauci’s health and safety.
The emails also reveal Dr. Fauci frequently and firmly shut down rumors that President Trump was censored.
“I actually have not been muzzled at all,” he wrote to one unidentified fan in February 2020.
Some moments of levity
Lionized on prayer candles and bobblehead toys, the emails show Dr. Fauci professing discomfort with the adulation coming from many corners of the internet.
When a colleague emailed him a story of how a shop sold out of doughnuts emblazoned with his face, he responded: “Truly surrealistic. Hopefully, this all stops soon… It is not at all pleasant, that is for sure.”
In another email, he shared a story about ‘Fauci Fever’ with the quip: “It will blow your mind. Our society is really totally nuts.”
And, when actor Brad Pitt played him on the Saturday Night Live sketch comedy show, he happily told a colleague that one reviewer said Pitt “looked ‘exactly like me. That statement made my year.”
What has the reaction been?
Some conservative politicians and media pundits have cited the emails in their calls to sack Dr. Fauci for his work on the pandemic response.
US Senator Rand Paul, a Republican who has frequently clashed with Dr. Fauci in hearings on Capitol Hill, said the emails make it “abundantly clear” the doctor is “a massive fraud”.
Across the political aisle, liberals have argued Dr. Fauci’s positions adapted to the scientific evidence available at the time. Others celebrated his style and tone of the response to various emails.
Did you subscribe to our daily newsletter?
It’s Free! Click here to Subscribe!
Source: BBC
