A single line often inverts meaning once you see what it
answers, so neighbouring messages are always shown.
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May 24, 2020 at 7:45 a.m. EDT President Trump has done his best to muzzle the most trusted voice on the coronavirus epidemic. Indeed, until late last week we had not seen much of Anthony S. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, recently. Then, on Thursday, he reemerged for a CNN town hall. Fauci promised he would be out and about more. "We've been talking with the communications people, and they realize we need to get some of this information out, particularly some of the scientific issues for which I'm predominantly responsible for, so hopefully we'll be seeing more of us, will get the opportunity to talk to you." Once more, he was a source of common-sense advice: Go for a walk. Wear a mask. Socially distance. He'll forgo a haircut for now. On Friday, Fauci gave an interview for the Hill. He tempered the president's unrealistic happy talk about producing a vaccine by the end of the year. He frowned on the "Operation Warp Speed" moniker coined by Trump. "I'm a little concerned by that name because it can imply by warp speed that you're going so fast that you're skipping over important steps and are not paying enough attention to safety, which is absolutely not the case," he said. "But in this program of hastening the development of the vaccine, it's something that we do feel actually is feasible to get the kinds of doses that you would need." He remained optimistic but measured about our ability to find a vaccine. Most important, he warned states to maintain precautions as they began to reopen. "It is prudent for states who are at various levels of infection to follow the guidelines that have come out about reopening or opening America again," Fauci warned. "And that is to get past the gateway criteria and then go into the various phases at the rates that are 1,650,000/98,000 1,660,000/98,000 prescribed by the guidelines. Obviously if some states don't do that, there is always a risk that you may have a resurgence." Fauci remains one of the most trusted people in America precisely because he steers clear of divisive partisanship and delivers objective data. A Quinnipiac poll released this week shows his approval rating is 68 percent, 26 points higher than Trump's. Even a majority of Republicans (51 percent) approve of the job Fauci is doing. It is easy to figure out why. As he puts it, he makes certain to "give the best public health advice and guidance based on data, based on science and based on evidence." Fauci has conveyed lifesaving information to millions of Americans, avoiding hype and hyperbole. Managing to stay in an administration that has consistently demonstrated its hostility to science without sacrificing candor is no easy feat. His ability to communicate scientific information effectively is reflected in the overwhelming number of Americans who are following his advice (e.g., wearing masks) and in their determination to avoid excessively risky behavior. Fauci has no doubt saved countless lives by encouraging Americans to follow social-distancing measures and by acting as a restraint on the president, who remains a menace to public health. Moreover, Fauci has restored our faith that facts do matter to the vast majority of Americans. For all that we can say, stay healthy and well done, Dr. Fauci. .............................................................................. Teleconference with CDC and others from HHS in anticipation of an MMWR coming out on Tuesday showing that there was not widespread infection in the USA that was unnoticed (i.e. in Dec. 2019 and early Jan. 2020). CDC is a bit defensive since some have said that they missed community spread that was going on for some time.
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May 25, 2020 - Global - 5,200,000/339,000; USA - 1,650,000/98,000 Will discuss on today's group call (Fauci, Corey,Mascola,Lane, Erbelding, Dieffenbach, Marston, Conrad) the conference call with Pharma to take place on Wednesday.
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May 26, 2020 - Global - 5,300,000/345,000; USA - 1,660,000/98,000 Still no clearances for press. Spoke last night with Chris Cuomo who feels that they do not want me out there since I remind people of the challenge of COVID-19 and the administration does not want that to be the topis. The topic for them is opening up the economy, no matter what the consequences. Deb Birx out there losing credibility with the community. ton Times interview; 680,000/100,000 700,000/100,000 Was in Sit Room with the VP doing the Governors call. As usual, the governors were highly complimenting of the administration. Having said that, thing do seem to be improving with much more testing going on and several states having tested >5 % of the populations and of those tested, many states have <10% which is the benchmark indicating that you are testing enough people. We are waiting to see if there will be rebounds associated with the opening up in certain states. PRESS: Washington Times interview;
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May 27, 2020 - Global - 5,400,000/345,000; USA - 1,680,000/100,000 Larry Kramer dies! Very, very sad. Many calls and e-mails PRESS: CNN with Jim Sciutto; PBS NewsHour with Judy Woodruff
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2020-05-27 00:00
Anthony S. Fauci
May 27, 2020 • o o o o o "How did I meet Larry? He called me a murderer and an incompetent idiot on the front page of the San Francisco Examiner magazine." Speaking as he passed though a fever check on his way into the White House, Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, recalled some of his fondest memories of his friend Larry Kramer, who died early Wednesday morning. Nearly every anecdote in our brief interview had the same plot: the country's best-known AIDS activist publicly abusing the country's best-known AIDS doctor -- and then privately apologizing afterward, saying he hadn't meant it, that it was just how to get things done. "It was an extraordinary 33-year relationship," Dr. Fauci said. "We loved each other. We would have dinner. I would go see him in the West Village, he would come down to Washington. "But even recently, when he got pissed at me about something, he said to some paper, 'Fauci's gone over to the dark side again.' I called him up and said, 'Larry? What the....' And he'd say, 'Oh, I didn't really mean it. I just wanted to get some attention.'" Nobody stirred up attention for a cause quite like Mr. Kramer did. An open letter to the San Francisco Examiner in 1988, Dr. Fauci said, was the first time he'd heard of Mr. Kramer, a playwright who had founded two activist groups: the Gay Men's Health Crisis; and Act Up, the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power. Addressing Dr. Fauci in the letter, Mr. Kramer wrote: "Your refusal to hear the screams of AIDS activists early in the crisis resulted in the deaths of thousands of Queers. Your present inaction is causing today's increase in HIV infection outside of the Queer community." "I thought, 'This guy, I need to reach out to him,'" Dr. Fauci recalled. "So I did, and we started talking. We realized we had things in common." Mr. Kramer's name-calling wasn't personal, Dr. Fauci explained. "I was the face of the federal government. I was the one out there trying to warn the public, and he was, too. That was his way of saying, 'Hello? Wake up!' That was his style. He was iconoclastic, he was theatrical -- he wanted to make his point." Image Dr. Anthony Fauci during a news briefing on the AIDS epidemic in 1989.Credit...Bettmann, via Getty Images Over the years, they were often asked to appear together, often on television news programs. "We were on ABC's 'Nightline' and Ted Koppel asked me about AZT," Dr. Fauci said, referring to the first anti-H.I-V. drug. "And Larry said, "You guys in the government don't know anything. You've got it all wrong!" Dr. Fauci would get in a cab to go home, and later the phone would ring. "It would be Larry saying, 'How do you think we did?' I'd say, 'Larry, you just trashed me in front of 10 million people." "And he'd say, 'Oh, I was just trying to get some attention." As they became friends, Mr. Kramer tried to push Dr. Fauci into joining him in activism. "During the administration of George H.W. Bush, he told me, "Tony, you should chain yourself to the gates of the White House," Dr. Fauci said. "I said, 'Larry, how would that help? I can go talk to President Bush any time. He's a friend.' Would you like recommendations for more stories like this? Yes "He said, 'You should still do it." In 2001, with Mr. Kramer suffering from both hepatitis B and side effects of his H.I.V. medication -- he had the disease for at least six years before effective triple-drug cocktails became standard practice -- Dr. Fauci became his doctor. Mr. Kramer had told him he was not doing well, and doctors were baffled. "I said, 'Come to the N.I.H. We'll work you up.'" Dr. Fauci recalled. "He was really at death's door. We realized he needed a liver transplant." Mr. Kramer went on a transplant list. But there was a public debate over whether he should get a scarce donor organ, because patients with H.I.V. had long been considered less likely to survive, despite the introduction of effective medications. And at 66, Mr. Kramer was older than a typical transplant candidate. Nonetheless, he got a new liver that December at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. That not only set a precedent for H.I.V. patients and older patients, but also abruptly reversed the decline in Mr. Kramer's health. "He really bounced back," Dr. Fauci said. "It gave him multiple more years of life." The relationship between the two men played out in Mr. Kramer's literary works as well as in his political activism. Mr. Kramer's autobiographical play in 1992, "The Destiny of Me," includes a character based on Dr. Fauci. "He's named Anthony Della Vida -- Tony Of Life," Dr. Fauci said. "He told me he wanted the actor who was playing me to come down to Bethesda and go on hospital rounds with me and learn my mannerisms. "He made the character a mix of goodness and rigidity. To him, that's the federal government -- rigid." "On opening night, he invited my wife and me, and he's so sensitive about our friendship," Dr. Fauci added. "I was standing around at the reception afterward with all these activists -- Peter Staley, Gregg Gonsalves, Mark Harrington -- and he comes up to me sheepishly and says, 'Do you hate me?'" "I said, 'What, Larry, it was a good play.'" "He said, 'Well, I was a little hard on you.'" "I said, 'Larry, you're always doing that to me, anyway!'" The Life of Larry Kramer ............................................................................................... White House Comms back to blocking me. They even balked at my doing press associated with Larry Kramer's death........really???? 700,000/102,000 800,000/104,000 Kayleigh McEnany coming out at her own orivate press conference saying thsat HC actually benefits patients, particular early patients. POTUS doubling down on his use of HC. Crazy Peter Navarro stops me in the EEOB office where we get our COVID tests and tells me that what I am saying about HC is actually causing many deaths (amazing asshole!!!). It seems that my comments on CNN on Wednesday has really stirred up the White House. They definitiely do not want me out there on the air. Mike Caputo wants to have a "meal" with me to talk. We will wait to see what the RCTs show about HC. The observational studies show no benefit and some significant risk. I asked Andrea Lerner to review literature on HC for me. PRESS: BBC World Service NewsHour; Instagram interview with Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC); LA Times video interview; WYNC Radio with Amy Walter on Larry Kramer; STAT interview with Helen Branswell on vaccines;
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May 28, 2020 - Global - 5,500,000/350,000; USA - 1,700,000/100,000 https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/27/health/larry-kramer-anthony-fauci.html 'We Loved Each Other': Fauci Recalls Larry Kramer, Friend and Nemesis In public, the activist berated the infectious disease expert for federal inaction on AIDS. But their affection lasted decades and changed the course of the epidemic. Larry Kramer in 2015. "It was an extraordinary 33-year relationship," said Dr. Anthony Fauci said of his friendship with the activist.Credit...Todd Heisler/The New York Times
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May 29, 2020 - Global - 5,600,000/354,000; USA - 1,700,000/102,000 Had major confrontation with the people from Moderna, mostly Tal Zaks, aandStephane Bancel who wanted to push backon the collaboration (mostly do their own thing). Moncef, John, Larry and I set them straight. Also Mikael Dolsten and people from Pfizer also wanting part of our resoruces (clinical sitesd) without joining the collaboration. Several conference calls to straighten this out. It is not going to be easy. Had long conversation on "background" with Bob Woodward who is writing a book on the early response to COVID in the USA. I provided him with some history of our response in early January and into February. Will tlak more with him tomorow PRESS: Wall Street Journal interview re: Chinese vaccines for COVID; Canadian Radio re: Larry Kramer; Young Money Radio - Lil Wayne and Dr. Dre;
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May 31, 2020 - Global - 5,800,000/363,000; USA - 1,800,000/104,000 Sunday - as expected, no shows for me. Also, conditions influenced by widespread riots and disruptions going on in multiple cities in response to a Minneapolis policeman who killed an unarmed black man (George Floyd), which was videotaped by a passerby. This has dominated the news. 00,000/104,000 00,000/105,000 A race horse owner just bought a horse to run in the Belmont Stakes and named the horse "Fauci"! I made it into a "Doonesbury" cartoon
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June 1, 2020 - Global - 6,000,000/368,000; USA - 1,800,000/104,000 Disruptions continue. Trump either silent or fueling the problem. McEnany looking more and more preposterous as she gives single person press briefings. Riots getting worse. Disruption and property destruction around White House and now into my very neighborhood blocks from my home up at Foxhole Center. Walgren's and Vourhius vandalized. Did Zoom interview led by Father Dan Lahart for the Regis High School graduating seniors. Students loved it. Jake Tapper did a piece on CNN quoting me as saying that I have not seen or spoken to the POTUS in 2 weeks from May 18 (Governors call) through June 1. Media picked up on it and made it a big deal PRESS: Interview with London Times for profile of me; TV interview with Italian TV (Sky TV)- Giovanna Pancheri; Washington Times interview on the effect of demonstrations/rioting on containment of COVID-19;