Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, was a regular face on various American televisions as the pandemic grappled the whole country and millions were eagerly waiting for his insights and guidance on how to overcome the crisis.
He was facing questions after questions on-screen as well as off-screen, answering through calls and emails.
BuzzFeed News, The Washington Post, and CNN have published some of his emails associated with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The emails provide a rare glimpse into Dr. Fauci’s frantic schedule and polite, to-the-point demeanor while working with the White House Coronavirus Task Force.
Some of his emails also reveal the burden he has been carrying with the role.
BuzzFeed published a February 2 email in which he wrote, “This is White House in full overdrive and I am in the middle of it. Reminiscent of post-anthrax days.”
A couple of days later, he responded to a journalist, writing, “I am really tired. Not much sleep these days.”
Dr. Fauci, who is the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), has been receiving numerous questions from news stations through emails and calls.
For instance, Howard Bauchner, the editor-in-chief of JAMA emailed Dr. Fauci in February with a note at the bottom, “You surviving — worried a bit about your workload.”
The NIAID director replied, “Am hanging in there. Feels like my internship and first year residency when I was on every other night and every other weekend, but actually never left the hospital because the patients were so sick.”
In June, Dr. Fauci said an interview with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer he was exhausted. “I’m chronically fatigued, I don’t get a lot of sleep,” he said. “I’m constantly briefing, talking, doing things, hopefully getting the right cause out.”
However, he never shows his frustration even after so much exhaustion, rater his exchanges have always seemed pleasant.
Despite never-ending calls and emails regarding the pandemic, Dr. Fauci always finds the time to respond to them, according to BuzzFeed. He even advises people not to hesitate to call to email him in case of any medical advice.
Dr. Fauci and former President Donald Trump had disagreements on how to approach the COVID-19 pandemic to a point when Trump suggested firing Dr. Fauci from his post.
In August, Dr. Fauci told CNN’s Sanjay Gupta he had to get security protection after his family received death threats and harassment.
Despite all these, the nation’s top infectious disease specialist maintained his demeanor and was never influenced by politics. He did not deter from speaking the truth. The article was originally published on ABC 7 News.
