Tony's Diary Package — page 97

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."