Tony's Diary Package — page 947

390lafa copious varieties of birds that we saw and heard. Gave me the opportunity to return, however briefly, to some form of "normality". it was entirely refreshing. I received an important call during my stay in Annapolis. Secretary Becerra wanted to speak to me to get my advice about whether we were doing all we can as a department to address the emerging monkeypox challenge. He was calling upon my experience in previous outbreaks to make sure that HHS (particularly CDC) was doing everything that they could. This was triggered by the fact that Ron Klain is very concerned about whether the CDC is up to the job and would not drop the ball again with regard to things like making a number of tests available. The secretary asked me what I thought the potential vulnerabilities were and I emphasized the fact that we cannot accept the CDC saying that they are the only ones that can do a test for monkeypox. We've got to convert this to a commercialization as quickly as we possibly can so that we don't have the same problem with not enough tests to understand whether or not we are dealing only with the tip of an iceberg. I offered up the cohorts of stored server that we (NIAID) have from the days of HIV/AIDS to see if there was smoldering below the radar screen infection with monkey pox among the gay population for some time before we even recognized it. Right now, as the results are coming in, it is clear that overwhelmingly the cases in the non-endemic areas of the United States, Europe, and other continents are predominantly among gay men. It is striking that the secretary "hinted" that Ron Klain is on the verge doing something dramatic with the CDC, such as removing Rochelle, which I believe would be a mistake since it is not her fault; it is the institutional rigidity of the CDC that has been the problem for decades. I explained this to the secretary and told him that it was not Rochelle that was the issue it was the structure beneath it. I got the impression that he completely understood this and was asking for my help and making sure things get done correctly. June 6, 2022 - Angela Rasmussen did an excellent job of blasting Jeffrey Sachs (and also co-author Richard Ebright) for their article claiming that COVID was due to a lab leak. See link and some selected excerpts from Angie's tweets: Link - https://bit.ly/390lafa Not overlooked, but ignored because I don't wish to further amplify it. But here's a quick summary: Like many of his fellow economists with Ivy League credentials but no specific expertise in biology, he suffers from the delusion that he knows what the fuck he's talking about. Jeff Sachs is the chair of @TheLancet COVID-19 Commission. This isn't an official government board with any real mandate. It's just a prestigious medical journal deciding to make up a task force of prestigious people to write more prestigious content for said prestigious journal.