COVID AT THREE YEARS—PART TWO:  FAUCI, THE CDC, CHINA, AND THE TWILIGHT ZONE

Last post, I tried to encapsulate some of what we’ve been through these past three years.  Flying by the seat of our pants, we tried to fight a previously unknown virus while desperately struggling to understand it.  All the while, it was rampaging relentlessly across the globe.  We hadn’t been through something like this in forty years.  Not since. . .

So let’s go back in time for a moment.  In the summer of 1981, cases of a previously unknown disease that ruthlessly destroyed the human immune system were being seen in increasing numbers.  Nobody knew what the hell was going on.

That disease, of course, was what became known as Acquired ImmunoDeficiency Syndrome, or “AIDS.”  Its cause?  An RNA retrovirus that was given the name Human Immunodeficiency Virus, or HIV.  Its structure and mechanism of action kept it one step ahead of the body’s immune-recognition system.  Entering the blood stream as a strand of RNA, it first was copied into DNA, then converted back to RNA, then finally into messengerRNA, where it hijacked the body’s cells and did its dirty work.  We’d never seen anything like it.

Scientists at the Center for Disease Control (CDC) and the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID) worked non-stop to understand and combat it.  This meant identifying the viral structure, determining how it spread, gaining some understanding of where it came from, putting in place safeguards to try to control its spread, and coming up with effective treatments.

It was an overwhelming task that landed squarely on the shoulders of one person.  A man who worked tirelessly to combat the disease.  A man who took enormous flak from both conservatives (“you’re pro-gay!  You’re promoting promiscuity!”) and liberal-leaning AIDS activists (“why aren’t you doing more?  You must be anti-gay!”)

In truth, this no-nonsense physician-scientist was neither.  Instead, he was a tireless worker who led an effort that eventually wrestled the virus to the ground.

His name was Dr. Anthony Fauci.  Fortunately, a Republican administration gave him the tools, the respect, and the leeway he needed to go after the disease.

Forty years later, another Republican administration would take a far different approach.

No, COVID is not AIDS and SARS-CoV-2 is not HIV.  The latter is spread only through blood and/or sexual contact, and is far deadlier.  The former is spread through respiratory droplets and aerosols (this makes it much more difficult to avoid) and produces everything from minor symptoms resembling “the cold” to an explosive “cytokine storm” that carpet bombs every major organ system in the body.

Regardless, both can kill you.  As of today, just under 7 million have died from COVID worldwide.

So how did Tony Fauci go from hero to villain, suddenly blamed for anything and everything that went on during the pandemic, and ultimately cast as the person who somehow started the whole thing?  Let’s go back to some basic questions from my favorite antagonist and perpetual thorn in my side, Larry Scheissekopf.

Larry (Year 2000)  “This is one big hoax! Fauci’s making this up.  Why’s he trying to make this into something it isn’t?  Standing six feet apart, wearing a mask, staying home, talking about a vaccine!  What a bunch of crap!  There’s nothing to this!  He’s just trying to undermine our President Trump who knows this doesn’t amount to anything!”

Answer:  No Larry, in truth it was Trump who undermined our efforts to fight the virus.  When HIV came along, Reagan didn’t know squat about it, just like Trump didn’t know squat about COVID.  The big difference was, Reagan was willing to admit it.  Trump wasn’t.

This meant that for Trump, the ultimate showman, COVID was nothing more than another show.  “It’s just a hoax!  Nothing more than a few cases!  It’ll be over by Easter and we’ll all be back in church!” (Donald Trump in a church?  I’d be worried the ceiling would cave in).

Instead, as much out of desperation as anything else once the body count started rising, Trump pivoted to fictional cures, like “powerful lights,” “strong disinfectants,” and who could forget “we have this wonderful drug.  Chloroquine.  Some people put ‘hydroxy’ in front of it—hydroxychloroquine.  Powerful drug.  Very powerful drug.  It’s been around a long time, so we know it doesn’t kill anybody.”  (Actually, it can).

If Trump had listened to those who actually understood the disease and just kept his mouth shut (like Reagan, who supported Fauci and the CDC), we’d all be a lot better off today.  But listen and keep his mouth shut? Those are two things Trump just can’t seem to do.

Larry (Year 2003)  “This is all Fauci’s fault!  He created this virus!  And I never said it was a hoax!” (Actually, Larry, you did).  “It came from a Chinese laboratory that Fauci funded!  He did this!  It was some kind of thing called ‘Gain of Function!’ Fauci did it!”

Answer:  Let’s go over this again, Larry.  We don’t know where this virus came from, and we’re likely never going to know. 

When President Biden requested that all government agencies submit their conclusions regarding the source of the virus (something Trump certainly never did), two agencies indicated that they felt it was the result of a lab leak, but could only say this with a low level of confidence.  Other evidence pointed to the Wuhan “wet market” (a sort of open-air stockyard/sales barn for every exotic animal you can think of—readers with a rural background will immediately get my analogy), where bats and racoon dogs were the suspected culprits.

The jury’s still out.  But for a moment, let’s assume that it did come from a lab at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV).  What would Fauci have to do with that?

The conspiracy theory goes something like this.  A foundation called the Ecco alliance , which seeks to find treatments for emerging viruses around the world, was provided a $3.7 million grant by the NIAID to assist with virus research at the WIV.  Nothing unusual here.  The Alliance conducts worldwide research, and gets funding from a variety of sources throughout the world.

But because this particular funding went from the NIAID, to the Ecco Alliance, to the Wuhan lab for viral research, and because the virus was first noted in a Wuhan hospital, this was somehow all Fauci’s fault.  The research at WIV, the conspiracy buffs insisted, somehow took a run-of-the-mill coronavirus, and made it into a Frankenstein virus!  And none of this would have happened if it hadn’t been for Fauci!

In truth, there’s no evidence that any “gain of function” activity occurred at the lab.  And even if it did, it’s doubtful that the $3.7 million from the EccoAlliance would have made any difference one way or the other.  I’ve visited several Chinese research facilities—they’re big, well-staffed, and frankly should scare the hell out of all of us.  Last year, China spent over $500 billion of their own money on research.  If they really wanted to do gain-of-function research, they sure didn’t need anything from us.

Of course, none of this has kept America’s favorite ex-Ophthalmologist/current-conspiracy buff, Senator Rand Paul, from pushing his theory that Fauci personally financed some sort of Frankenvirus.  But then again, Rand was also the guy who claimed that since he’d had a minor case of COVID, he didn’t need to wear a mask or get vaccinated because he’d be immune forever. As I’ve already said , he should be glad he’s already a doctor, because if he were in medical school today and said something this incredibly stupid, he’d get his butt flunked out in a heartbeat.

So you don’t like Rand Paul.  I get that!  But why would anyone in a government agency be saying that the virus came from a lab, if it wasn’t true?

Answer:  Well Larry, we simply don’t know.  And maybe that’s for the best.  I want our security services to do their jobs and do them well.  Some of their sources need to be classified.  But those agencies also aren’t perfect, and sometimes get things wrong.  Very wrong.  Exhibit A?  Saddam’s weapons of mass destruction that never existed.  The important thing is that the insights of all agencies need to be pooled and considered when trying to uncover the virus’s origins.  And right now, those agencies are all over the place in their assessments.

But not one of them has pointed at Dr. Fauci as somehow being behind any of this.

“But Fauci lies all of the time!  He told us we didn’t need masks, then said we did!  He told us a vaccine would protect us, but then said we needed all kinds of boosters!  He said it would be over once we had a vaccine, then told us something different!  I’m telling you, the man’s a liar!  So is everyone else with the CDC and NIAID!  I’ll never trust them!”

Answer:  Larry, let’s get something straight.  This virus did not come with an instruction manual!  From the outset, it spread rapidly, killed unpredictably, and mutated like mad.  And all the while, the Trump administration downplayed it, denied it, scapegoated it, and once the body count was undeniable, promoted phony cures that were straight out of the Twilight Zone.

Dr. Fauci, in contrast, told the truth.  Larry, I’d challenge you to find a single instance in which Dr. Fauci made any kind of statement about the status of the pandemic, where he did not also use a phrase like “based on the best evidence we have now, and knowing that evidence may change,” or “based on the information we have available at this time,” or something of that nature.  Fifty bucks says you can’t.

Trump’s pronouncements, on the other hand, were completely devoid of such qualification.

Science follows the evidence, and sometimes evidence takes us up blind alleys.  We have to turn back and regroup.  This happened with HIV.  It happened with Ebola.  And it certainly happened with COVID.  The big difference was that COVID affected way more people.

Larry, for nearly thirty years I gave a talk to incoming medical students, a bunch of bright-eyed, bushytailed doctors-to-be.  One of the things I warned them about was this:  “If you’re going to be a physician, you must accept the fact that medicine changes.  We uncover new information.  That means that some of the things you’ll stay up all night studying in medical school and accept as true, will one day be proven to be absolutely, totally, completely wrong.  That means you will have to back up and relearn that information, and reapply it to the way you treat patients.  And if you can’t do this, ladies and gentlemen, you have no business becoming physicians.”

The truth is, Larry, Dr. Fauci and the CDC were forced by the President to fight this virus with one hand tied behind their back.  They had to fight two wars—one against the COVID virus itself, and another against the misinformation virus spread by the Trump administration and their allies.  Based on the decline in death rates, we may be close to winning the first war.

The second war, I’m afraid, may never end, given the number of Monday morning quarterbacks who insist on criticizing our response.

“So you’re telling me Fauci is some kind of hero?”

Answer:  That’s exactly what I’m telling you.  He steered us through the pandemic as well as anyone could.  He told the truth even when it wasn’t popular.  And he didn’t let politics stop him.  There aren’t many who would do that.

And remember, he’d been through all of this before.  Throughout the HIV epidemic, there were plenty of conspiracy buffs claiming that HIV had been manufactured in some secret facility in Africa, or Pennsylvania, or Russia, or God knows where.  Fauci had to just take those insults and keep going.  Of course, it was much easier back then, before the internet and its massive spread of viral lies.

“So what happens now?”

Answer:  Your guess is as good as mine, Larry.  But with newer and deadlier viruses bursting onto the scene as fast as we can keep up with them, it’s going to be very interesting.  Will we have learned anything from COVID that will save lives in the future?  I see reasons to be both optimistic and pessimistic.

But if the past fifty years are any indication, we’re soon going to find out.  So hang on to your powerful lights, strong disinfectants, hydroxychloroquine, ivermectin, colloidal silver gargles, garlic, crucifixes, and whatever else you still think gives you magic powers.  The next time around may get really ugly.

Further reading/listening:  Try The Great Nations of Europe by Randy Newman.  Pay close attention to the last verse. . .

Lyrics:

Randy Newman – The Great Nations of Europe Lyrics | Genius Lyrics

Music:

The Great Nations of Europe – YouTube