In fact, as the top infectious disease expert in the United States, Fauci has never really disappeared, according to the Associated Press. However, under the leadership of former U.S. President Trump, Fauci is often unable to “tell the truth” about the COVID-19 epidemic and even received death threats.
In an interview with The New York Times, Fauci spoke about his experience working for the Trump administration, “I received some death threats and they harassed my wife and children, which made me very upset.”
On January 21 local time, after Biden officially took office, Fauci attended the White House briefing for the first time as the chief medical adviser of the coronavirus epidemic. “Now I can stand here and talk about science. It’s a sense of liberation.”
Fauci received death threats while serving the Trump administration
As the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Fauci, 80, has served seven former presidents of the United States. Fauci provides guidance to the federal government and communicates with the World Health Organization whenever there is a public health crisis in the United States.
According to multiple poll data, during the epidemic, Fauci’s calm and factual attitude made him one of the most trusted medical officials of the American people, but this also caused Fauci “trouble”.
When Trump repeatedly claimed that the coronavirus would disappear on its own, Fauci said bluntly, “Maybe so, but because COVID-19 is a new virus, no one can accurately predict when it will disappear.” Fauci’s attitude is also contrary to Trump’s attitude about whether the United States should implement the “stay-at-home order”.
In an interview with The New York Times, Fauci said, “I have a great respect for the presidency and have historically disliked conflicts with the president, but if I don’t say it, it means acquiescing in him that he is right, which will send a wrong message to the world.”
“I’ve been in trouble starting March 28, 2020,” Fauci said. “The people around Trump, his inner circle, have made me afraid to openly conflict with Trump.”
In addition, some extreme Trump supporters also believed that Fauci had created the novel coronavirus to profit from the epidemic.
They called for Fauci to be fired.
Fauci himself even received death threats.
“I once received a letter containing white powder, which quickly covered my face and chest when I opened it. Security personnel immediately told me not to move and stayed in the office, and then they dealt with the powder.
I feel that this may be a prank, or it may be an acute infectious anthrax, or ricin. If it was the third case, then I might have died.” Fauci said in an interview.
Fauci stressed, “This makes me very upset, and my wife and children have been harassed.
I don’t know how they got my child’s information, but you know, it’s crazy behavior by extremists.”
Nevertheless, Fauci said, “I never thought of resigning. When people see me standing there, they will feel some differences, but if I resign, it will leave a ‘blank’. We can’t be afraid to tell the truth.
“This is a feeling of liberation”
At present, Fauci is back in the spotlight.
At 4:00 a.m. local time on January 21, Fauci participated in the online meeting of the World Health Organization as the head of the U.S. delegation.
Fauci said at the meeting, “I am honored to announce that the United States will continue to be a member of the WHO, and President Biden has rescinded his decision to withdraw from the WHO.”
At the same time, the United States plans to meet its financial obligations to WHO and stop reducing the number of U.S. staff working with the organization.
Fauci said, “The immediate priority is to contain the COVID-19 epidemic and continue to learn how to avoid the information about pandemic in the future.”
NPR reported that the United States will also join the COVID-19 vaccine implementation program (COVAX), which aims to provide low-income countries with COVID-19 vaccines and treatments.
WHO Director-General Tedros Tedros subsequently tweeted, “Thank you, Brother Tony (Anthony for short), and welcome you to attend the WHO Executive Committee meeting as the head of the U.S. delegation.” Tedros also said, “This is a good day for the WHO, and for global public health issues.
The United States can play a very important role in the fight against the global epidemic.”
At 4 p.m. on the same day, Fauci also attended the White House pandemic briefing and said he believed that the new government could provide guidance based on scientific facts and would not send a “mixed message”.
Speaking of the difference between working for the Trump administration and the Biden administration, Fauci said, “I don’t really want to look back, but now I can stand here and talk about science without fear of being hit, which is a sense of liberation.”
Biden’s 100 million dose vaccination plan in 100 days may be difficult to achieve
According to the statistics released by Johns Hopkins University in the United States, as of 15:21 Beijing time on January 25, the total number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the United States reached 2,512,7006 and 41,215 deaths.
According to CNN, on January 21, 2020, the first confirmed case in the United States increased from the first case to 25 million. It took only one year for the United States, which also means that the average number of confirmed cases in the United States is about 67,934 per day, with an average of one person diagnosed in 1.2 seconds.
According to the Institute of Health Indicators and Assessments of the University of Washington, although the Biden administration has deployed a coronavirus vaccine, the number of deaths in the United States is expected to reach 569,000 by May 1.
In the face of such a severe epidemic, Biden has taken a series of measures.
On January 21st, local time, in response to the coronavirus epidemic, Biden signed 10 executive orders, requiring faster vaccination, expanding testing scale, and increasing the production of epidemic prevention necessities such as masks.
Biden also stressed that the fight against the coronavirus epidemic is a difficult problem that the whole country needs to face together, and it should not be up to the states to formulate epidemic prevention measures.
CNN reported that this is different from the Trump administration’s measures.
Meanwhile, Biden also promised to complete 100 million doses of vaccination within 100 days of taking office.
But analysts believe that this goal may be difficult to achieve due to insufficient vaccine supply and confusion in the distribution of vaccines between the federal government and the states.
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