I am disappointed at the New York Times’ opinion column “Why Many Americans Turned on Anthony Fauci.” He gave a lot of bad advice, they say. I believe that many Americans just didn’t know how to listen to him.
His advice went every which way over the last couple years. When the virus was first detected he said it was probably not a big concern. Then he said it was a big concern. Then he said that masks would help, but don’t buy N95s; use cloth masks. No, cloth masks don’t work well; do get N95s. Now mask, now don’t, mask outdoors, no, just indoors, no, don’t even go indoors in public places, now lockdown, no lockdown, schools close.
He’s a scientist specializing in epidemics who didn’t, at the start, know much about the specific virus that had just appeared. But the last few like it had set off unwarranted panic and turned out to be short lived, and he knew that crying wolf would ultimately damage public health. But quickly he and his colleagues realized that this one was going to be serious, very serious. Fauci knew that our mask supply was too limited for the medical staff who would need it, so what few there were needed to be reserved for them. Cloth masks might help everyone else; they couldn’t hurt! But when mask production ramped up, and it was demonstrated that cloth masks weren’t nearly as effective, he advised N95s for everyone.
He said “6 feet away,” back when it seemed likely that covid was spreading by droplets, and “sanitize everything you touch,” which would have been great advice for that coronavirus we all know well, the common cold. But then he and his colleagues discovered that it’s spread mostly by aerosols, so the advice changed to avoiding badly ventilated public places. For awhile, as bodies piled up in refrigerator trailers, he advised people to avoid all public places.
For people who understand at least a little about the science in which he was involved, it made sense. He gave the best advice he had, given what was known at each juncture, and wisely revised it as more information became clear.
He said, “get your vaccine!” which was about 75-95% effective at first. No one knew then if protection would remain robust or wane. Of course a few people who used masks, sanitized, avoided crowds, and got vaccinated got covid. (Occasionally people who wear seat belts and have airbags don’t survive a car crash.) The rate of spreading dropped and the rate of fatality went way down among the vaccinated but even then a few still caught it. That was to be expected.
The people who “turned on Anthony Fauci” weren’t thinking about how he and his colleagues were advancing scientific knowledge and offering their best advice at the time. They listened to him like a child listens to a adult who doles out rules that don’t make sense. “Fauci lied. He said no masks and then he said yes masks and then people with masks got it, so they don’t even work! He said to get the vax but I know a guy who did and he got covid! Stupid rules! Stupid Fauci!” And then, in a combination of childish emotions and adult agency, they said, “I heard somebody say hydroxychloroquine, bleach, herbs! I don’t understand authorities but I trust rumors!” Like children acting out, they demanded their own way and a few engaged in violent tantrums.
In hindsight, of course, we can see that Fauci’s advice wasn’t flawless. But he did his best in the face of an unknown virus, and with a concurrent battle against Trump’s nonsense: drink bleach, free Michigan, China virus, Our Freedom! Who could, under those circumstances, have done better? We were lucky to have such a good advisor through the first and worst of the pandemic.