Battles in the War Room

Anthony Fauci is an unassuming hero in the battle against the coronavirus scourge. He is but one of many scientists around the globe seeking to contain and conquer the virus. However, Fauci’s success, or failure, could mean whether millions live or die and whether the world plunges into an economic meltdown of the magnitude of or worse than the Great Depression of the 1930s.

For Dr Fauci is the warrior fighting to get the US to preserve lives, prevent the country from becoming the epicentre of the Northern Hemisphere and protect the world’s largest economy from collapse, taking with it the global economy. If the US domino falls, the rest will fall, one by one.

As director of the US National Institution of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Fauci is the point man in the US campaign against the virus. Unfortunately, he has to fight on more fronts than the front opened by the virus.

The first is the White House where he serves on the Task Force dealing with the pandemic. After China, belatedly, publicised the emergence of the novel virus on Dec.30, the Trump team did nothing because it knew nothing and refused to believe the outbreak was a danger to the US. The Trump team understood nothing because it had pre-empted the pandemic in April 2018 by dismantling the National Security team of scientists in charge of handling disease outbreaks. Subsequently the administration called for defunding the Centre for Disease Control as well as health programmes.

Fauci’s major difficulties are with the occupant of the Oval Office, Donald Trump, and his servile deputy, Mike Pence, who has been put in charge of the anti-virus effort. Trump’s first response was on Jan.22, two days after the first case was reported in the US. He dismissed its risks by saying, “We have it totally under control. It’s one person coming from China.” Mass contagion had already taken hold there and was spreading. He subsequently tweeted that concern over the virus was a “hoax” which is similar to the common flu. He ignored the fact that Covid-19 is a new disease for which humans had not developed anti-bodies, treatments and vaccines.

When testing was eventually available, kits were faulty, and Trump said, “I don’t take responsibility at all.” He has lately played down the need to self-isolate and keep one’s distance from other people and called for a return to work at Easter (April 12). While Trump relies on denial, dismissal, untruths, half-truths and false optimism, Fauci depends on undeniable facts and their acceptance, truth and guile.

While trying to avoid publicly contradicting Trump, Dr Fauci tells the public the hard facts. In a telephone interview with the Washington Post, he said, “We are in the escalating phase of a very serious pandemic. That is a fact. We have got to realise that and to prepare and respond. It is not, as it were, under control. Because (the rate of infection is) still going up. Are we trying to control it? Yes. Are we having an impact? We are doing some rather dramatic things. California shutting down. New York doing the same thing. And for the country in general, the physical separation. So even though the infection is going up, there’s no doubt that what we are doing is having an impact.”

He refuses to say when the disease will peak and how long it will last. He said he gives this to the administration. Although its members do not always speak honestly to the public, they get his “message loud and clear.” The only way to counter the virus is to marshal resources, “pull all the stops out” and stick with distancing and self-isolation.

Dr Fauci presents a striking physical contrast with Trump when his team gathers for a televised briefing. Trump is nearly two metres tall and bulky, with Fauci a head shorter and slender. On these occasions, Trump initially reads from a text as he cannot be trusted to speak ad hoc as does Fauci. A man who wants to be the centre of attention always, Trump usually glowers when Fauci speaks, while Fauci’s facial expressions can show disagreement when Trump spouts nonsense. On one occasion when Trump went off script to give a wrong impression of the situation, Fauci stepped up to the microphone and corrected him.

On Sunday, Trump capitulated to Fauci and other scientific advisers by admitting that the US cannot return to work by the April 12 Easter holiday and that people should remain at home until the end of that month. As US cases climbed to 136,000 with more than 2,400 deaths, Fauci warned Trump and the “American people” that the virus could kill between 100,000 and 200,000 in the US alone. But, what really frightened Trump was that Imperial College in London predicted 2.2 million could die if he did nothing. Although Fauci said 200,000 fatalities was a worst-case estimate, he said it was not expected. Political counsellors also warned Trump to join the many who have been taking the virus seriously. Science triumphed, at least for the moment, over spin, although Trump tried to predict that the US would be back in business by June 1.

Unfortunately, Fauci and science have become targets of “Make America Great Again” right-wing elements who argue he is trying to undermine Trump by correcting his lies. The New York Times found more than 70 twitter accounts accusing Fauci of fraud while anti-Fauci commentators concoct fanciful anti-Trump conspiracy theories.

Dr Fauci and science are unlikely to bend to the ignorant and assertive right. Too many lives are at stake. Trump cannot continue to obstruct and impede the US and global war against the virus. Fauci has spent his life waging war on plagues, he is not going to stop when confronted with the worst gripping the planet since the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918.

Born in December 1940 in Brooklyn, New York, to a family of Italian background, he took his medical degree at the top of his class from Cornell University in 1966. He joined the National Health Institutes in 1968 where, in 1984, he assumed his present position. He has advised the past six US presidents, has worked on HIV-AIDS and Ebola and is the recipient of scores of awards and honorary doctorates. Science cannot be denied.