A single line often inverts meaning once you see what it
answers, so neighbouring messages are always shown.
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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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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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2020-03-06 00:00
Anthony S. Fauci
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.
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Mar. 8, 2020 - 105,427/3583. 2 cases in DC and at least 3 in Montgomery County. I am going to start social distancing myself - am 7 monhs shy of 80 years old. Today is the Sunday show day. I emphasized on FOX (Chris Wallace) and Meet the Press that people with underlying conditions, particularly the elderly with such conditions should do social distancing, avoid all by absolutely essential travel, do not take long plane trips and absolutely avoid cruise ships. The meetingof the TF today emphasized getting people off the ship. There has been a delay with the union of longshoreman somewhat passive aggressing the USG. Pence to Call Gov. Newsom. Pence tasks Deb and I to put together some "Doctor Talk" statements in clear language. Pence clearly very happy the way I handled the 2 Sunday Shows that I did. Nice Profiles of me in Politico and NY Times today. Amazing outflow of thanks from hundreds of people!! Article from Denise Grady: Not His First Epidemic, Dr. Anthony Fauci Sticks to the Facts Where politicians fumble and other government health officials step back, he steps up to explain. Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, speaking before the House Appropriations Committee on Wednesday.Credit...Anna Moneymaker/The New York Times
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March 8, 2020, 3:04 p.m. ET • • Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's leading expert on infectious diseases, is widely respected for his ability to explain science without talking down to his audience -- and lately, for managing to correct the president's pronouncements without saying he is wrong. President Trump said that drug companies would make a coronavirus vaccine ready "soon." Dr. Fauci has repeatedly stepped up after the president to the lectern during televised briefings or at White House round tables to amend that timetable, giving a more accurate estimate of at least a year or 18 months. Mr. Trump said a "cure" might be possible. Dr. Fauci explained that antiviral drugs were being studied to see if they might make the illness less severe. The president also said the disease would go away in the spring. Dr. Fauci said maybe so, but because it was caused by a new virus, there was no way to tell. Experts like Dr. Fauci should be the ones who speak to the public during epidemics, said Representative Donna E. Shalala of Florida, who was his boss during the Obama administration, when she led the Department of Health and Human Services. "I think Tony is playing the same exact role that he has in the past -- to make sure the science is accurate and clear," Ms. Shalala said. "During a health emergency, it's the scientists and physicians that are the credible people to the American public, not politicians." "I used to make him wear his white coat when talking to the public," she added. "I used to make them all wear their white coats so people were reassured that they are real doctors." On Sunday, Dr. Fauci appeared on at least two television news shows, warning that as the virus spread -- there were more than 450 cases in at least 33 states -- some stricter measures to isolate the infected might be considered. He also offered advice for older adults and those with underlying health conditions who are most at risk, saying they should avoid cruises, flights and large gatherings of people. At a recent Congressional subcommittee hearing, one representative asked Dr. Fauci if he had a twin, because he seemed to be everywhere lately. Another offered medical advice: lemon, honey and bourbon for his voice, which has been hoarse for weeks from endless rounds of talking to lawmakers, scientists, health officials and reporters. If Dr. Fauci has become the explainer-in-chief of the coronavirus epidemic, it is in part because other government scientists have left a vacuum, avoiding the news media spotlight or being reined in by the Trump administration and accused of exaggerating the threat from the virus. When reporters call Dr. Fauci, he calls them back. Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is famous for being unknown: He has given few interviews or public talks outside those required by administration news conferences. Dr. Nancy Messonnier, director of the C.D.C.'s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, who warned on Feb. 25 that the coronavirus was likely to spread in the United States, and that "this could be bad," came under fire from the administration and has toned down her advisories. "Nancy Messonnier told it like it is," said Dr. Thomas Frieden, the former director of the C.D.C. "And she was 100 percent right, and they silenced the messenger." The C.D.C. has made few of its other scientists available for interviews about the coronavirus. And it is now facing sharp criticism for long delays in providing states with kits to test for the virus, and for setting such tight limits on the tests performed at its it by headquarters in Atlanta that some diagnoses were delayed or missed, possibly leaving infected people to spread the virus to others. Dr. Fauci, 79, does not seem to be in the cross hairs. Although he was recently told he must clear his many TV, radio and print interviews through the White House, he has said that he has not been muzzled. "You don't want to go to war with a president," Dr. Fauci told Politico. But he thinks the public needs solid, understandable medical information, especially during crises. He makes a point of not trying to "razzle-dazzle" audiences with his knowledge, he told an interviewer in 2015, adding that his education at a Jesuit high school and college taught him intellectual rigor and the value of public service. As director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases since 1984, Dr. Fauci has lasted through six presidents, and has declined multiple requests to lead his agency's parent organization, the National Institutes of Health. He has led federal efforts to combat diseases caused by emerging viruses, including H.I.V., SARS, the 2009 swine pandemic, MERS, Ebola and now the new coronavirus. He was an architect of the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, started in 2003 by President George W. Bush, to fight H.I.V. globally. In 2001, after anthrax was mailed to Senator Tom Daschle of South Dakota, the Bush administration tried initially to minimize the threat, but Dr. Fauci was characteristically blunt. "This is material that is quite formidable, that is infecting people with inhalation anthrax, infecting them in the absence of direct contact," he said. "You can call it whatever you want to call it with regard to grade and size or weaponized or not weaponized. The fact is, it is acting like a highly efficient bioterrorist agent." Previous disease outbreaks have kept him on the lookout for new pathogens, and in January, reports of unexplained pneumonia cases in Wuhan, China, set off alarms in his head. "Even before we knew it was a coronavirus, I said it certainly sounds like a coronavirusSARS type thing," he said. "As soon as it was identified, I called a meeting of top-level people and said, 'Let's start working on a vaccine right now.'" He is among the most highly paid federal employees, earning about $400,000 a year, more than the vice president or the chief justice of the Supreme Court. He oversees a 2020 budget of $4.75 billion, which is $769 million less than last year's after being cut by the Trump administration. Unflappable though Dr. Fauci may seem, the new coronavirus worries him, especially its spread in the Seattle area and the toll it is taking in a nursing home there. He said he vitals thought it was still possible to stop the disease, but health authorities would have to know where it was to do that, and he said the lack of testing capacity was a huge obstacle. Test kits sent by the C.D.C. to states were flawed, and it has taken weeks to begin replacing them. And strict regulations from the Food and Drug Administration hampered outside labs' efforts to begin to do their own tests. But Dr. Fauci declined to join the chorus of blame against the C.D.C. "It's so easy to play Monday morning quarterback," he said. "Every element of the federal government was working full-speed to try to get this out and get things going." "What I really want to concentrate on is the idea of getting enough tests out there to get an evidence-based foundation of where we are in this country," he said. "Seattle is of concern. We need to know the extent of the community spread." At times in the past, Dr. Frieden said, Dr. Fauci may have over-promised a bit in his enthusiasm for projects of his that have yet to pan out -- an H.I.V. vaccine, and a universal flu vaccine that would provide long-lasting immunity to multiple strains so that people would not need another shot every year. "It's the role you have to play to get money from the Hill, and the role of a researcher to be eternally optimistic about a cure being around the corner," Dr. Frieden said. "He's very effective at asking for money from Congress." He is also a fair-minded colleague, Dr. Frieden added. During West Africa's Ebola epidemic in 2014, after two nurses treating a patient who had traveled to the United States became infected, the C.D.C. was harshly criticized for not having helped hospitals to prepare better. Dr. Fauci did not pile on. "Not everything we did was perfect," said Dr. Frieden, who then headed the C.D.C. "There are many people in similar roles as Tony who might have taken advantage of that for the interest of their institution, and Tony was always honorable." "If we did something wrong he was frank about that," he continued. "When we were getting attacked unfairly, he defended us. That's very unusual behavior in the bureaucratic situation you see in Washington sometimes. I think that's why Tony is so respected." During the early years of the AIDS epidemic, the U.S. government and its health agencies were a frequent target of criticism and protests, blamed for inaction on potential treatments and inadequate funding for research and medical care. When AIDS activists demonstrated outside his institute in 1988, demanding a chance to try experimental drugs, Dr. Fauci surprised the leaders by inviting them into his office. He wound up working with them to develop new ways to expand access without compromising the clinical trials that were urgently needed to determine which drugs worked -- an approach that was later applied to research in other diseases as well. "There are a lot of world class scientists, but Tony has a special set of skills," Ms. Shalala said. "An ability to communicate, high integrity and an understanding of politics -- and to know to stay out of politics in order to protect scientists." Dr. Fauci acknowledged that his age puts him in one of the groups at highest risk for becoming severely ill from a coronavirus infection. But it has not slowed him down. He sleeps only about five hours a night, works most of his waking hours and jumps on the Metro to get around the Washington, D.C., area, from his office to the Capitol and the White House. Most days, he runs or power walks 3.5 miles. "I'm not worried about myself," he said. "I'm worried about the job I have to do." Andrew Jacobs contributed reporting. Alain Delaqueriere contributed research. Disclaimer: Any third-party material in this email has been shared for internal use under fair use provisions of U.S. copyright law, without further verification of its accuracy/veracity. It does not necessarily represent my views nor those of NIAID, NIH, HHS, or the U.S. government. PRESS: FOX Sunday with Chris Wallace; Meet the Press with Chuck Todd; Appeared on 60 Minutes (CBS) Special on coronavirus
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Mar. 9, 2020 - 111,354/3892. Stock market really crashing. Even though we are saying that 1.1 million tests are out there, and millions (4 mill this week) to follow, we still do not know how many tests have been performed and whether anyone can get a test who needs it. hate to say it, but some incompetence at CDC/FDA. We are geeting killed publicly by this vulnerability. Am now told by CDC that we only have 1 million nasal swabs to collect the specimens. And so now we have more tests than swabs! And the limiting factor is the swabs. Gov. Cuomo calls me up and asks my advice on whether to close schools in the orthodox Jewish section of Westchester where they have 90 cases (more than rest of NYC). I tell him yes. He also asks about closing subways. I tell him not yet, but let us stay tuned. I will push for more surveillance testing. Lab Corps and Quest On phone call with VP and all the Govenors. I talk about protecting the vulmerables with co-morbidities, particularly among the elderly I bring Cliff into the group on an almost fulltime basis. Cases in 35 states. >500 cases with 22 deaths Priority 1 is to get people off the Grand Princess. w 712. Deaths 29 Had press conference. POTUS came. Had good conversation with him. He is getting very crummy with me. I sarcastically answered one of the persistent questions about the cruise ship issue by saying I personally would never get on a cruise ship. PRESS: CNN New Day with Alisyn Camerota and John Berman; FOX and Friends.