Follow the science
Threats against public health officials reflect politicization of crisis, driven by U.S. leaders.
Before the coronavirus pandemic, Dr. Anthony Fauci was not a household name. In the scientific and medical community, however, he was revered — one of the early leaders in the fight against AIDS who served under six U.S. presidents of both parties.
In the weeks after COVID-19 began its insidious spread across the county, the bespectacled 79-yearold with a Brooklyn accent became a fixture in the daily White House coronavirus task force briefings. The director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases urged caution over recklessness. He hewed to science rather than politics. He often contradicted the many misleading and medically dubious statements from the president.
That made him persona non grata in far right-wing circles, where conspiracy theories often reach a fever pitch and where memes and a discredited documentary falsely accused him of intentionally engineering COVID-19. It also put Fauci on the outs with the White House, which waged a despicable campaign to smear the nation’s top infectious disease expert at a time when such expertise is desperately needed.
Fauci’s unflinching candor in describing the magnitude of coronavirus has also put him and his family in danger. In an interview on the “Axe Files” podcast, he revealed that he, his wife and his daughters have received hate-mail death threats so worrying that he had to ask for extra security protection.
“I mean, really? Is this the United States of America?” Fauci asked the host, CNN political commentator David Axelrod.
Yes, sadly it is. The threats reflect the politicization of a public health crisis, often driven by elected officials more concerned about satisfying the most vocal elements of their base than the mounting death tolls. Instead of being guided by science, they prefer to whip up anti-mask frenzy, plant unsubstantiated doubts about the scope of the pandemic and attempt to undermine Fauci’s credibility.
Fauci has not been the only target. Since April, the Associated Press reported, more than two dozen state and local health leaders in 13 states have left their posts or been fired after being subjected to harassment and intimidation.
The chief health officer of Orange County, Calif., resigned after she was threatened and doxxed by an anti-vaccine extremist at a meeting of the county board of supervisors. In Ohio, the director of the state health department also stepped down after armed protesters marched outside her home.
The tactics come straight out of the anti-vaccine movement, which has a strong foothold in Texas. Some anti-vax activists have used violent memes, online bullying and even physical attacks in the campaign against vaccine policies. California state Sen. Richard Pan was physically assaulted, had blood thrown in his face and received death threats because of his efforts to tighten the state’s immunization laws.
Fauci, in his usual measured way, said the “animosity” to measures such as shutdowns is understandable, “but the hostility against public health issues is difficult not only to understand, but difficult to process.”
“I’m not a hero; I'm just doing my job,” he told Axelrod, a former senior adviser to President Barack Obama. “There are people who get really angry at thinking I'm interfering with their life because I'm pushing a public health agenda.”
Everyone in government, from the president to the aides who have tried to undermine Fauci, should be following his path, and pushing a public health agenda. The refusal by so many, including at many times the president himself, to let science and public health set the nation’s course in its pandemic response not only puts health officials such as Fauci at risk, it may be the biggest obstacle in our country’s efforts to contain the deadly virus.
If the country’s leaders won’t promote and support best public health practices, it’s no surprise that ordinary Americans resist the very measures that could halt the spread of coronavirus and save their lives.