A single line often inverts meaning once you see what it
answers, so neighbouring messages are always shown.
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Mar. 1, 2020 - 87,137/2977. Bob Redfield and Nancy Messonnier telling me that there are now more cases in Chicago, Rhode Island, Florida, Massachusetts. Nancy is frustrated that Bob is not sounding the alarm to start social distancing. She is asking for my help. I will bring it up at the AMA call and the Task Force call. Got call at home this AM (Sunday) from Gov. Andrew Cuomo (NY) asking advice how he should handle the COVID-19 siutation in NYC. Had long conversation in which he stressed a few times, how much his father (and mother) loved me and used to tell Chris and Andrew how much they respected me and how proud they were that I was an ItalianAmerican. Sylvia Burwell appeared on Fareed Zakaria GPS show. I was supposed to be on with her, but it was one of the shows that got cancelled for me. She called me this AM while Chris and I were on our walk and asked advice and fact checking for her interview. On several of the Sunday Shows my name kept coming up by people in interviews and panels (Chuck Todd - Meet the Press) saying that "we should have Dr. Tony Fauci out there speaking to the American people. He has a decades long history of giving the truth in a calming way to the public." Sunday conference call with AMA followed by VP Pence and Task Force. We are moving to mitigation in Santa Clara section of California where there are cases and in the Seattle area of Washington State. Reason - we have sustained community transmission in those areas. PRESS: FOX and Friends;
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Mar 1, 2020
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Mar 1, 2020
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Mar. 2, 2020 - 89,197/3038. 2nd death in the USA (Washington State man). Several more community based cases plus a NYC case that returned from Iran. We will need to move to mitigation + containment in Washington State, which has declared state of emergency. 89 cases in USA with more cases each day. 6 deaths in USA Deb Birx on board. Had a slight run in with her when she told me that the WH was pissed at me for sayng on n NBC interview today that we have an outbreak and "likely a pandemic". It all go cleared up after I spoke with Katie Miller who is now running the Comms shop for COVID-19. She is the VP's Comms person. Someone trying the hurt Azar by leaking to press (Politico and WSJ)that on a phone call wher we discussed the contamination problem with the CDC test that Azar and Brian Harrison said to send the tests out anyway even though they are defective. The leaker said that I was on the call and tried to persuade them not to do this. The entire story was a fabrication and Brian Harrison, Redfield and Steve Hahn talked the reporter out of it. Met in the Cabinet Room with POTUS, VP and multiple CEOs of PHARMA to discuss contribution on industry to treatment and vaccine effort. POTUS very deferential to me at meting. Getting many, many e-mail and press writing about my role helping the country. Much press exposure (daily WEH briefing from press room) Having a daily Task Force meeting at 4:00 PM will destroy my schedule to do anything else. PRESS: CNN New Day with Alisyn Camerota; CNN with Chris Cuomo; Daily press conference from WH press room. Mutliple spinoffs
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2020-03-03 00:00
Anthony S. Fauci
Mar. 3, 2020 - 91,320/3118. POTUS and VP visit NIH today. Amazing day! Testified with Steve Hahn, Anne Schuchat, Bob Kadlec before Senate HELP Committee chaired by Lamar Alexander. Patty Murray complaining about lack of testing availability in Washington State where there is increased community spreading now with 6 deaths most in nurtsing home. In the middle of the hearing Sen Keane asked me why I was disinvited to the Democratic caucus lunch. It was scheduled that after the Hearing, Hahn, Birx and I should make comments first at the GOP Senate caucus lunch and then the Dem. In reality someone in the VP's office screwed up and felt that I would not get to the NIH in time to greet the POTUS who was coming up on Marine One. They did not know that I was supposed to ride in the motorcade with Pence. Anyway when the VP's office heard about the outrage of Keane, they immediately re-invited me. Keane thought that this wa another example of them "muzzling me". A real cluster. However, the VP spoke so long at the Dem lunch that it was clear that the POTUS would arrive before me, who was supposed o greet him. Finally Azar and I raced up in his car with no motorcade to NIH. Amazing that the POTUS got to VRC/NIH before me and Azar and actually waited in the holding room for me. Yikes! We did our thing; I made a presentation, we had a press conference in the VRC. Graham and Kizzmetia Corbett made presentation on 2nd floor and then the POTUS invited me and Azar to return to White House with him on Marine One. After we got off Marine One, the POTUS and I held a press conference on the lawn. Amazing. We then had our Task Force meeting followed by another press conference. Importantly, I have been pushing for blanket testing throughout the country on symptomatic and asymptomatic people to get some data. CDC and FDA are promising this now, but I doubt if they can deliver. I am beginning to quedtion the competency of CDC and the innocent inexperience of Steve Hahn and FDA In the middle of this, Larry Corey calls me up and mentions that they did in Seattle a screening of people presenting with Flu like sxs in 4 emergency rooms, and of 380 people, 4 were positive for Coronavirus. This is bad since this is 1%. I told Larry to call Bob Redfield and let him know. This may be the beginning of a major outbreak in the USA PRESS: Good Morning America with George Stephanopoulos; multiple press conferences, including one on White House Lawn after getting off Marine One with the POTUS
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Mar. 4, 2020 - 95,125/3254 Countriesd with cases - 77. South Korera -5328 cases; Italy - 2502. In USA 22 cases travel related + 38 person-to-person (10 deaths) = 60 cases + 3 Wuhan and 45 Diamond Princess repatriated - 48 . total - 108. Testified with my NIH colleagues at the House Approps Subcommittee chaired by Rosa DeLauro and present was Full committee Chair Nita Lowy. Again much praise for my role in coronavirus. Many senators want to speak individually to me. Today spoke with Senators Manchin (D-WV), Gary Powers (D-MI), and Pat Toomey (R-PA) clarifying point about testing, which is the big topic since the CDC and FDA lagged behind. More briefings today of House GOP and Dem caucus in Capitol Visitor Center. Totally standing room only. Kevin McCarthy ran GOP and Nancy Pelosi ran Dem. Much praise for me. VP came with Birx and then took me with them to return to WH in his motorcade, which was really fun - driving at 50 miles/hour down usually crowded streets that are now all blocked off. Daily task force meeting - I presented to group the 4 cases of community spread in Seattle (Corey phone call). VP and Steve Mnuchin pownplayed and VP bought it saying that 1% is a small number. I tried to explain to them that 1% reflects the situation a few weeks ago givin incubation and the real number is probably hundreds of infections. I wanted to have them do social distancing. Birz looking like she wants to tell the VP what he wants to hear. Not looking good. Sean Conley appropriately questions the VP going to Seattle. I call up Marc Short tonight and express my concern that they are downplaying the 4 patients. He understands and will relay this to VP. Governor Cuomo wants me (texts) to go to NYC and do a press conference with him. I told him that this is unlikely. He texts me back: "You are doing the important work! I am in the cheap seats. God Bless. Whenever works". PRESS: Press conference after the Task Force meeting. I stress difference between risk of infection and risk of complication.
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Mar. 5, 2020 - 97,381/3348 Now have 12th death in USA - another of the Seattle nursing home. Total cases in the USA = 152. Seattle seeing community spread (see above). Did Full Senate and Full House briefings in the Capitol Visitor Center with Azar, and some members of Task Force. Some hostility between Azar and Congressman for Texas regarding the issue of the Congressman questioning whether CDC people were properly PPE'd when they brought expatriated people from Diamond Queen. Following the briefings, we did a press conference. Many hostile questions regarding what the POTUS said that AM on Hannity. He said that most people who get infected and do very well and can go back to work. He obviously misunderstood the briefing of him that most people whore infected (>80%) do well and do not need hospitalization. He also quoted a modeling study from CDC (Spoken by Brett Giroir) that the real CFR was between 0.1% and 1.0%. The press asked me how this could differ from the WHO number of 2-3%. I explained that the WHO only counts cases that come to the attention of the medical community (and this was pure arithmetic of numerator (deaths) and denominator (number of recognized infected people) and the CDC model was making assumptions about the actually number of infected people who might be asymptomatic or minimally symptomatic and not get noticed. Did a Podcast with Alan Alda (really wonderful guy). Congress passed a $8.3 billion supplement for coronavirus. NIAID gets $826 million Govenor Inslee of Washington State called me even though the VP was on his way to visit the Govenor and asked me my opinion about mitigation, i.e. should they start it. I told him a definitely yes. He said that he trusts me and no body else in the administration. I also answered a number of questins from him and his staff. Someone still is planting stories to discredit Azar. Judy Steckler (HHS) has asked me on a couple of occasions (see above) to call the reported and give the other side of the story which I have done. Press stories that the White House did not like the Profile of me in Politico since it is off message (Really???). Yet everyone in the WH is congratulating me on the piece (watch your back, Tony). I am pretty safe, I believe since the public adulation of me has been amazing with every young intern as well as seasoned veteran in the WH coming over to me congratulating me and thanking me for my work and even asking for selfies. Bad news with another cruise ship - Grand Princess. A person was on the ship, did not feel well, got off in a port in California, then was hospitalized, tested positive for COVID-19 and died. Now the cruise ship wants to dock in SF. Not being allowed Several people on board have respiratory sxs. Flying tests in to see if there is infection on the ship. If there is, we will have to quarantine the entire population of the ship OFF the ship to avoid a Diamond princess situation. Problem is that logistically we have no easy way to quarantine 4000 people. More tomorrow when we get results of tests. PRESS: FOX Business with Lou Dobbs; CNN Town Hall with Anderson Cooper.
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Mar. 6, 2020 - Nancy Messonnier calls me asking for help in getting the message out that we must protect the vulnerable (elderly with co-morbidities). She wants to say it but she says the VP's staff are pushing back. I promise to bring up at TF meeting. I do and get support to announce it, which I do at the WH press conference this afternoon. I say that people with underlying conditions, particularly the elderly, should start to practice some form of social distrancing as well as avoiding any non-essential travel, particularly airplanes. During task force meeting it became clear that there were at least 21 infections on the Grand Princess out of the 46 tested. All but 2 were in the crew. I and others strongly push to get these people off the ship to avoid another Diamond Princess fiasco. Leave crew on ship and test everyone and put inot holding facility (March or Travis) and then send the California passengers to self-isolation at home, provide charter flights for the non-Californians to their home, and have the UK, Canada and other countries come and make decisions for their citizens as to their disposition. POTUS in Florida tells VP that he would keep the people on the vessel, but if Fauci and others feel it is better to take them off, then take them off. Yet, when he does a press conference in Florida, he says does not favor taking them off ship. I am beset with having to deal with always being asked if I disagree with the POTUS. Continually being pressed about the lack of availabioity of tests when Hahn at FDA is saying that 750,000 tests are distributed and 1.5 million more are on the way next week. PRESS: NBC Today Show with Savannah Guthrie; JAMA Podcast with Howard Bauchner; Tape CBS 60 minutes for airing on Sunday March 8);
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Mar. 7, 2020 - 102,969/3511. Meeting at Deb Birx home to hash out issues in preparation for TF meeting today (Saturday) at 4:00 PM. Tom Frieden comes down from NYC, Joe Grogan, Steve Redd (now detailed from CDC to Deb), Matt Pottinger, Olivia Troye. We make decision to recommend that staff of all nursing homes and extended care facilities act as if they are infected and wear masks, wash hands, etc. in dealing with clients. Also, limit visits of family members, and if they do visit, they should do as the staff does. Still have not made decision about whether to ban all embarkment s of cxruise ships for USA. We want to do this, since we do not have the facilities to quarantine thousands of people on a single ship when we know from DOT that at any given time there are 99 cruise ships out there with >300,000 people that are planning on disembarking at USA ports. Announced last night that Mick Mulvaney is out as Chief of Staff to POTUS and will now be Special Envoy to Northern Ireland (Yikes!) NY Times today. At Deb house we learm that 2 people from the AIPAC (American Israel Public Affaitrs Committee) meeting are infected and one who has now actually gotten sick has hugged Mark Meadows, the new Chief of Staff to POTUS. I speak with Sean Conley, Physician to POTUS, and tell him that Meadows needs to be isolated at home now; he needs to be tested now; if negative, then OK, but still isolate 14 days' if positive, we have a real problem sine he has made contact with many public Figures, possibly the POTUS already. VERY INTENSE TIMES. Meadows test is negative. Will isolate for 14 days. Gov. Cuomo calls my cell and wants me to help him get masks from the WHO supply since the SNS does not have enough to service New York. I give him Stewart Simonson's cells phone and they connect. Had important TF meeting in Sit Room. VP phones in from Mar a Largo. At least 4 cruise ships with crew members who were on the Grand Princess are out there. Could be a logistic nightmare. I propose that we urge seniors with co-morbidities to avoid crowds, unnecessary travel, particularly on planes and absolutely on cruises as part of my campaign (see above) to protect the vulnerable. I write (handwritten at the Table) a statement for the State Department to publish with DHS that this is our recommendation. VP loves it (on phone) and says let us call it the Fauci doctrine.