A single line often inverts meaning once you see what it
answers, so neighbouring messages are always shown.
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April 5, 2020 - (Sunday) - Major news-outlets (Wash Post, NY Times) starting to write detailed stories of how the USG (esp. Trump) dropped the ball in response to COVID-19. CDC getting bashed (in some respects rightly so). Much Monday morning quarterbacking. Thus far, I am coming out OK, but the response in general in being bashed. Global - 1,100,000/57000; USA - 311000/7700; Cases predicted to continue to rise and deaths increase over next week. Nice article in Washington Post on the relationship between Deb Birx and me. Beautiful profile of me on BBC audio featuring Chris and Peter Staley. I was sitting on steps of EEOB on a conference call reviewing countermeasure portfolio (BARDA) when a photographer from across the landscape (on Pebble beach) shot me and focused on my pokadot socks. It got tweeted around the country. "Birx has her scarfs and Fauci has his socks" Geeeez. Very amusing and notable dynamics at the TF meeting today. It is Sunday and we were supposed to have a relatively low-key meeting without a subsequent press conference. HOWEVER, as we began the TF meeting, we learned that the POTUS was joining us. He came in and in his usual rambling self starting going all over the lot and then said that we should have a press conference in 30 minutes since he wanted to give "good news'. Deb had been saying that the cases were starting to stabilize in NYC and in a couple of days we could speak about it. Jared wanted to talk about some good stuff regarding supply chain tomorrow. POTUS would have none of it. He wanted a press conference now. Everyone started scrambling to prepare. Of note, ADM John Polowczwk ("Adm P") gave some data on supply chain. The POTUS loved and told John to get over to the WH for the press conference. John was dressed in his Combat Fatigues and clearly was terrified of appearing on TV when the rules are that you should wear the standard formal dress (not dress level) for TV appearances out of the combat zone. He felt that he would be reprimanded by superiors at the Pentagon. It was clear that he was very nervous and almost frozen. When people in the room explained to POTUS what was going on, POTUS said "Last time I looked, I was Commander in Chief and so get your ass down here now". Then POTUS said: "Get Gen. Milley (Chair of the Joint Chiefs) on the phone and clear this up. Just then a Deputy Chair General go on the phone (not sure who it was) and said: "John, you are good to go. Get over to the White House in your combat fatigues." All ended well, although Joh was still clearly nervous as he stood before the cameras at the WH briefing Room. Press: Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan; Press briefing in the White House press room after the TF meeting.
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April 6, 2020 - Global - 1,100,000/63,000; USA - 338,000/10,000; Today did call with Governors (me, Deb, Redfield, Giroir et al). Turned out it was mostly Governors's staff and health people as opposed to actual Governors. Individual Calls with Gov. Ricketts (NE) and Gov. Reynolds (IOWA). They were concernced about my comment that "I cannot understand why all states have not done stay at home orders". They are really already doing as much or more than some states that have officially issued stay at home orders and they are being criticized as a result of my comments. We worked it out over the phone. I will support them and clarify where I can to support them. -369,000/11,000 At the Press Briefing today, I took the opportunity to say that the Govs of NE and Iowa are doing an excellent job ad are functionally doing exactly what those states that have stay-at-home orders are doing. Trump dud his usual rambling stream of consciousness show at the briefing. Intense publicity about me continues with stories of granmothers who have crushes on men. Petitions to vote me "Sexiest Man Alive". Major stories about my basketball career at Regis. Janet Tobias pushing to get footage and access to TF workings with me. I am very reluctant since the optics are bad. My main goal is to stop this outbreak, not to participate in a documentary. She can do her thing as long as it is not intrusive to our work. I am concerned that we really do not have a clerar plan to "open up" the country at end of April. No one is really in charge or even knows what they are doing. This is not my area and so I can only provide 40,000 foot perspective, which is not good. PRESS: Appeared at the White House Press Briefing.
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April 7, 2020 - Global - 1,200,000/68000; USA - 369,000/11,000 Press still hot and heavy about me. Multiple stories per day directly or indirectly involving me. The debate about the use of HC still dominating the discussion. Big article in the Washington Post about the long relationship between Deb Birx and me. Big challenge today is to firm up a plan on how to approach to re-opening of the country. I am concerned that there really is no plan and no one is really in charge. Off-hand mention of "another task force". Jared is getting involved with us. Deb supposedly leading it. Deb unhappy with Brett Giroir and bad-mouthing him a bit as he goes his way continually reporting about how many "tests" are out there. I do not have a good felling about this. However, the meeting that we had in the Roosevelt Room tonight made me feel better. The entire team gathered after the Press conference for 2 hours starting at 7:30 PM. Paul Mango provided a framework for "re-opening" delineating all the things that need to be in place. Again, much depends on the easy availability of testing. Present were: Joe Grogan, Kellyanne Comway, Jared Kushner, Bob Redfield, Steve Hahn, Seema Verma, Deb Birx, Brian Harrison. At presser I discussed the issue of greater pecent of deaths among AfricanAmericans dues to the health disparities (hypertension, diabetes, obesity, asthma) that predispose to poor outcome (pneumonia and death). After all this, at night 9:30 PM Cliff Lane came over my house and we went over the Guidelines document that he and the group prepared. I will brief Azar on Thursday and then officialy submit it as a "workstream". This is an example of the type of articles that are appearing. This appeared in The Atlantic today (April 7, 2020): Why America Is Thirsty for Anthony Fauci During the pandemic, a 79-year-old immunologist is becoming as crushable as a pop star. KAITLYN TIFFANY 6:30 AM ET Enjoy unlimited access to The Atlantic for less than $1 per week. Sign in Subscribe Now ALICIA TATONE / THE ATLANTIC • • • Link Copied • "If you don't have a crush on this man, do you even care about public health?" It's a question that wouldn't have made even the slightest bit of sense before the coronavirus pandemic, and it doesn't make a ton of sense during it either. Still, it was posed, above a headshot of Anthony Fauci, by the Twitter account @FauciFan, which was created three weeks ago and has amassed more than 15,000 followers. All day, Americans go online to fess up about crushing on Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. They dig up his college yearbook photos and evidence that he once played basketball in short-shorts. They edit his Wikipedia page, swapping the main photo with one taken 13 years ago, then one from 17 years ago. In my upstate-New York hometown, you can buy donuts with his face on them. More than 10,000 people have signed a petition to make Fauci People magazine's next "Sexiest Man Alive." Fauci has had the same job since 1984, and he's earned national recognition before for his handling of the HIV/AIDS crisis. But during this epochal natural disaster, as a leading member of the federal government's coronavirus task force, he's more akin to an actual celebrity, famous for the contrast between his calmly stated expertise and Donald Trump's contradictory messaging during White House press briefings. Doodling hearts all over his face may seem irrational, but times of crisis often breed infatuation with authorities who can provide guidance and soothe anxiety. MORE STORIES • There's No Zoom Party Like a College Zoom Party KAITLYN TIFFANY • You Have a Moral Responsibility to Post Your Boring Life on Instagram KAITLYN TIFFANY • • What You Need to Know About the Coronavirus HALEY WEISS At this moment, smooching anyone is verboten, even reckless, but in isolation and in daydreams, lots of Americans are thinking about planting one on a 79-year-old immunologist. Read: When keeping your distance is the best way to show you care The @FauciFan Twitter account--which last week featured a photo of a young Fauci explaining how HIV interacts with the immune system, captioned "#tbt #thirsttrap"--was created by Sarah Alexander, Tiffany Zarrella, and Leann Zhou, three friends and microbiologists who work together in Bethesda, Maryland. They are not joking about their crush. The trio had been talking about their thirst for Fauci over text, and decided to take it public in hopes that it would be entertaining to other bored and freaked-out people. Zhou, 22, told me that she thinks people are drawn to Fauci's "cute Brooklyn accent." She wouldn't have been able to guess his age, she added, pointing out that he's an avid runner, and has serious light-up-the-room energy. "He's very knowledgeable and expert, but he speaks in a really approachable way," Zarella, 33, told me. "Everyone wants to know what's going on, and he delivers." Alexander, 25, agrees, saying, "I do personally think that he actually is attractive, and it's not unheard of for people to be attracted to older men. Look at Jeff Goldblum." I proposed to her that Goldblum is an actual Hollywood star, and that there might be something strange about presenting Fauci as one. "We're not trying to prop him up and make him a celebrity," she told me. "It's just an appreciation of him. He's working 16plus-hour days." Americans have had plenty of political crushes before. There have been more durable ones on presidents such as John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan, and, more recently, Barack Obama. By the time Obama became a public figure, the internet was ready to amplify conversations about thirsting over handsome and competent men: In 2007, one of YouTube's first mainstream viral hits was a comedy music video called "Crush on Obama," starring the actress Amber Lee Ettinger as a young woman in booty shorts who wants to make out with the then-senator from Illinois. "I did develop a crush on Obama," Ettinger told me. (Today, she's an Instagram influencer who posts mom-related lifestyle content.) "He was this young, sauve, handsome fellow. People felt a personal connection with him when he spoke." For Fauci, she speculated, the incentives for crushing are a little bit different. "No. 1, his little New York accent. He feels like a voice of reason, someone you can trust. He has a calming presence about him. Supersmart. I think he's adorable." The more obvious precedent for Fauci's newfound celebrity is another flavor-of-the-week public figure, Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who became a superhero and stoic boyfriend to the left during his investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election. That in itself was not entirely novel: For a brief period after 9/11, then-Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld was treated as a sex symbol--as Salon put it, a "hot Republican war dad." Mueller, like Fauci, became crushable because of the perception that he was unflappable, soberly sifting through facts and ignoring irrelevant clangor during a tense situation. One woman told the Associated Press last year, "I admire [Mueller's] mystique. I admire that I haven't heard his voice." But although lots of Americans are making these men into heartthrobs--whether as a joke or sincerely--it doesn't mean we actually want them to act like celebrities. We just want to be taken care of, and we don't want anything to shatter the illusion that they can save us. There are other crushes of the coronavirus crisis, most notably New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, whose daily press conferences in state-branded attire have become appointment television for people living in the epicenter of the country's outbreak. Vogue has praised his competence and "imaginary boyfriend" potential, while the New York Post spoke with moms on Long Island who gushed about eating ice cream in bed, watching him speak calmly and convincingly of New York's ability to overcome the pandemic. While descriptions of Fauci dwell on how "adorable" he is, Americans' fascination with Cuomo is openly grimier. Last week, for instance, Twitter was abuzz with speculation as to whether a strange-looking wrinkle under the governor's polo was, in fact, a nipple ring. A fake dating profile written for the governor by City & State didn't mention sweetness or charm, but interests such as "fishing" and "yelling," as well as the personality type "laid-back, loose dude, who is always in a cool mood." In a recent blog post titled "Help, I Think I'm in Love With Andrew Cuomo??" the Jezebel writer Rebecca Fishbein ran down the list of things she despises about him politically, then confessed, "When I stream his presser on the governor's website--every day around 11:30 a.m., complete with a PowerPoint presentation--I feel comforted. I feel alive. I feel protected. I feel ... butterflies." She's heard from plenty of New York women who agree. "A lot of women who are older than me have been emailing me being like, No I really love him; he has all of his hair," she told me. Fishbein lived in New York City during 9/11, and she remembers people feeling similarly about then-Mayor Rudy Giuliani. And after Hurricane Sandy in 2012, she said, she knew people who thought that then-New Jersey Governor Chris Christie was heroic enough to feel gooey over. "It [does] not last long, but I think there's this feeling that somebody is telling you, in what seems like a straightforward manner, what's going on," she said. This can mutate into a crush with ease. "It's just your mind playing tricks on you." Read: Why people are confessing their crushes right now This is literally true, says Helen Fisher, a biological anthropologist who studies dating and relationships at Indiana University's Kinsey Institute. "In times of crisis, people have a fight-or-flight response. That drives up the testosterone in the brain," she told me. "Testosterone triggers various brain systems that can trigger sexual arousal. Testosterone also has a positive correlation with dopamine, and dopamine is linked with feelings of romantic love." You don't need me to explain that the past month has been saturated with feelings, or that your nerves can only tap-dance for so long before your brain starts to do strange and shocking things. Similar hormones are involved in both crushing and panicking, and rushes of adrenaline can lead to attraction, which is presumably why The Bachelor involves so much bungee jumping and helicopter travel. antic, where she covers technology. auci Crushing on a public official is not particularly fruitful, but it's hard to think of a reason not to indulge in it a little bit. Even in normal circumstances, a crush is a diversion from everything we're worried about. Pointless crushes may be, if anything, even more necessary during a pandemic, when the only other stimuli are horrifying. Crushes spike up and surprise us--uncomfortable but fun, sweet but nauseating. Thirsting over Fauci won't stop the pandemic, but at least it can keep us busy. I recently stumbled across a video of a woman named Jill playing guitar and singing, in a school-teacher voice, a love song for him. "Please stay safe doctor," the song ends, "you're our only hope." We want to hear what you think about this article. Submit a letter to the editor or write to letters@theatlantic.com. KAITLYN TIFFANY is a staff writer at The Atlantic, where she covers technology. ConnectTwitter ALSO, see article today in The Nation by Jeet Heer entitled "Dr. Anthony Fauci has a target on his back". The story says that the right wing, including Rudy Giuliani, is out to get me because of my stance on HC and because I am responsible for shutting down the government and ruining the economy. From today regarding deaths: The fatality rate remains unclear, estimates of the proportion of people contracting the virus who never show symptoms ranges from 25 to 50 percent and there is no clear explanation for why it proves so deadly for some people who are relatively young and previously in good health. oo = _ =~, A oo =: eo ys =~ st _ = = ae -- a in = 10,938 total deaths > © April 6 rl I _-- ~ = _s he itn eo = I A a sy to I -- a = a Lr ----, Dallas 45 ~ os A, a oe aed -- -398,000/13,000 PRESS: Local Radio hits - Jason Rantz Show KTTH Seattle; The John and Ken Show (California - KFI AM640 Los Angeles); Multiple local (from around the country) TV hits in EEOB; White House press conference.
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April 8, 2020 - Global - 1,300,000/73,000; USA - 398,000/13,000 As we predicted, yesterday was the most deaths in single day in USA. However, indications from NYC aree that cases, hospitalizations, intensive care and intubations have been down for past few days. Remember - deaths always lag by about 2 weeks behind new cases. Could be first clear sign of turnaround. Now focusing on how to "re-open" the country safely (see meeting last night) Bobblehead raising money: Fauci bobblehead raises $100,000 for American Hospital Association Anthony S. Fauci's bobblehead likeness has eclipsed a nun's to become the best seller in the six-year existence of the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum, raising more than $100,000 to provide protective masks for health-care workers. In less than a week since the museum announced the sale, preorders topped 20,000, quickly outselling the thousands of the museum's other releases, according to co-founder Phil Sklar. The polyresin likeness of the country's foremost epidemiologist dethroned that of Jean Dolores "Sister Jean" Schmidt, the courtside superstar and now 100-year-old chaplain of the Loyola University of Chicago men's basketball team, which powered improbably to the NCAA tournament's Final Four in 2018. Five dollars from each $25 sale of a Fauci bobblehead goes to the American Hospital Association's 100 Million Mask Challenge. Sklar said the individually numbered bobbleheads will ship in July. Crazy stuff on Internet: 'Cuomo Crush' and 'Fauci Fever' -- Sexualization Of These Men Is a Real Thing on The Internet Talent Recap x= The coronavirus pandemic has led brothers Andrew and Chris Cuomo and Dr. Anthony Fauci to the forefront COVID news and updates, but it also ... Phone call with Gov. Gary Herbert (R-Utah) and Kristi Noem (R- SD). Same issues as described above for Iowa and Nebraska. I explained that I would publicly clarify when given he opportunity. They are against "one size fits all". I will correct any misunderstanding. Tests -- Abbott ID Now machine Did teleconferences with House Republicans and Democrats moderated by VP Pence. Nancy Pelosi still showing simmering hostility towards me. In particular, she did not like my answer that we really cannot enforce price controls on companies to which we license vaccine platforms such as Moderna with the mRNA. The fact is that we cannot. Global -1,400,000/80,000; USA-- 430,000/15,000; Growing concern about fact that African-Americans are dying much more than other racial/ethnic groups. Certainly due largely to the increase in underlying conditions among them such as hypertension, diabetes, obesity, asthma PRESS: FOX TV - America's Newsroom; Eric Bolling Sinclair TV; White House Press Conference.
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2020-04-08 00:00
Anthony S. Fauci
April 8, 2020 t he described as a "potentially major Donald Trump COVID-19 as Photograph by Lo Scalzo / Bloomberg / Getty WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)--In what he described as a "potentially major breakthrough," Dr. Anthony Fauci has convinced Donald Trump to attack COVID-19 as if it were an inspector general. Fauci, who has been frustrated in his efforts to get through to Trump, compared the global pandemic to an inspector general while in a closed-door meeting with the President on Wednesday. "What do you hate more than anything, Mr. President?" Fauci asked. "Jim Acosta," Trump immediately replied. "O.K., fine. But, besides Jim Acosta," Fauci said, "it would be an inspector general, right?" "You're right, Tony," Trump agreed. "I hate those losers." "Well, think of COVID-19 as the worst inspector general in the world," Fauci continued. "It's overseeing everything you do and making you follow the law. It's keeping you from spending taxpayer money on anything you want. You wouldn't stand for that, would you?" -- 465,000/17,500 Reportedly, Trump appeared shaken by Fauci's analogy. "Damn it, Tony, when you put it that way, we've got to do something about COVID-19," he said. Speaking to reporters, Fauci said that he was "cautiously optimistic" that his inspectorgeneral analogy would finally spur Trump to action, but added, "Jared could still screw this up." .................................................................................................... Again, countless print press stories about me directly or indirectly. Far, far too many for me to even think about reading. Some day, maybe, go back and read. Eveyone asking about the plasn for re-opening the ountry PRESS: ABC -Good Morning America with George Stephanopoulos; NBC Today Show with Savannah Guthrie; CBS This Morning; WH Press Conference coverage
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April 9, 2020 (Thursday) - Global -1,400,000/80,000; USA- 430,000/15,000; Getting ready to submit the COVID-19 Treatment Guidelines that Cliff led. Briefed AZAR by phone he liked it but wanted to make sure that Nancy Messonnier was OK with it since we did not want CDC to be coming out with objections. I called Nancy and found out in a poignant call that she no longer is involved in the COVID response. I do not believe that Azar knows this. Who removed her??? Tim Uyeki is representative for CDC on the Guidelines Panel. TF Conference call with Senate GOP and Dems - usual questions about when to re-open the country Another example of craziness. This below in the New Yorker:
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April 10, 2020 - Global - 1,440,000/85,000; USA - 465,000/17,500 Concern building about the economy and when we can open the country. 17 million jobs lost within the past 4 weeks. Larry Kudlow and Steve Mnuchin are concerned that even with the massive infusion of relief dollars that we may o irreparable damage to the economy if we do not open soon. Call with Randell Stephenson - CEO of ATT wanting counsel on how to get his workforce back towork safely Call with Gov. Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas - doing a good job in AR; want counselon retunring to normal Call with Gov. Mark Gordon of Wyoming - same discussion. What advice and counsel of returning to normal. Call with Gov. Doug Burgum of North Dakota All these Governors are calling me because of my credibility and reputation to run their plans by me and ask for my opinion and help (message back to TF and POTUS). Unfortunately, I really cannot do much but get their messages back. Very frustrating Less POTUS actually joined the TF meeting right at the beginning andstarting talking about ratings of the press conferences being the best ratings on all of TV. Yikes! POTUS was again rambling at the press conference with stream of consciousness not really answering questions and spouting how well we are doing. Press focusing on whether we are prepared to re-open. Press keeps dwelling on fact that we likely do not have enough testing capability. POTUS mentioned (to my and Birx's surpise) that he has already asked some people to be on another Task Force to help him decide on re-opening. He even mentioned that there would be prominent physicians on the call. Deb is worrie d about this. I am not surprised. During press briefing reporter asked PTUS a question about Gov. DeSantis (RFL) wanting to open his schools in May and would not that endanger lives of people since there are many cases in Florida. He did not answer and then the reporter asked what my opionion was. I spoke generically saying I am not aware of the situation in Florida, but in general, if there are active cases in community, children in school could spread the virus. Later that afternoon DeSantis called my cell and explained that he wa evaluating the situationon a week by week basis and did not make any definitive decisions and the districts that he was considering opening the schools were districts with very few infection. PRESS: CNN New Day with Alisyn Camerota and John Berman; Sirius Doctor Radio - Marc Siegal; Press conference (see above); FOX Martha McCallum; FOX Jesse Watters; Brian Williams - MSNBC
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April 11, 2020 - Light day. TF, but no press conference. Important discussion about the fact that the sensitivity of the Abbott ID Now (15 minute test) machine is queationable. We have not had a single positive at the WH with press and secret service and staff. We will bring a machine to NIH to use on people with documented COVID-19. I am still concerned about our ability to dothe tsting that we keep reassuring the public that we can do. Deb very much suspicious and restrained hostile towards Brett Giroir whom she does not trust. Gave extra copies of the HHS Guidelines to Marc Short. They plan to have me present it to POTUS on Monday, April 13. > USA
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April 12, 2020 (Easter Sunday) - Global - 1,800,000/110,000; USA 500,000/20,000. In general, early indications of leveling off. Print news (NY Times especially) writing multiple articles about howTrump was late to respond/slow to act even thugh he was given warnings by many people. I look good to neutral in the reports. Big article in New YorkTimes today by Eric Lipton, David Sanger, Maggie Haberman, Michael Sherar, Mark Mazzetti and Julian Barnes. I was spoofed last night on Saturday Night Live (SNL). Media buzz in my answer to Tapper's question whether lives would have been saved if we had shut down earlier. I said yes with a lot of qualifiers; however, the press is not reporting the qualifiers. Such is life..... PRESS: CNN State of the Union with Jake Tapper; MSNBC TV with Rev. Al Sharpton