Tony's Diary Package — page 189

Anthony S. Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, outside the White House on Friday. (Alex Brandon/AP) By Jennifer Rubin Opinion writer 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