Dr. Anthony Fauci is one of People Magazine’s People of the Year. They gave him a cover and everything. If you had told me, one year ago, that one of the POTYs for 2020 would be an unassuming 79-year-old immunologist with a regional New York accent, I would not have believed you. But here we are. Dr. Fauci is legitimately one of the few people who made 2020 better. His calm, matter-of-fact demeanor was a stark contrast to Donald Trump’s raging insanity. Fauci spent most of the year blanketing the media, trying to get people to take mask-wearing and social distancing seriously. Some highlights from his interview:
The challenges of 2020: For the past 11 months, Dr. Anthony Fauci has found himself at the center of what he describes as one of “the most difficult and devastating infectious disease and respiratory outbreaks that we’ve experienced in the last 102 years… You have a devastating public health challenge in the midst of a very divisive society, in a very hotly-contested political year. You put all of those ingredients together and it’s been quite challenging.”
His fame has grown so much that he has the top-selling bobblehead. “It’s surrealistic and, in some respects, nice and amusing. But you can’t take that stuff seriously and start to think you’re a celebrity. When you start to think that, then you get into trouble. I’m a physician. I’m a scientist. And I’m a public health official.”
Watching Brad Pitt play him on SNL: “I’m definitely not as good-looking as he is. But I think he did a great job. At the time, I had a vocal cord polyp and my voice sounded like Vito Corleone in The Godfather. He did a great job imitating me with that and pretty good job with the Brooklyn accent, too.”
What he sees as his job: Much of Fauci’s job for the past year, he explains, has involved using the media to try and help Americans not only understand the importance of adhering to public health measures (like mask wearing and social distancing), but to give them hope, he says, that “we can turn this around.”
He has enjoyed his celebrity interactions: “The thing that you do learn is that they’re really fine people. They’re real people. They’re good people. They’re people who you might initially think that they’d consider themselves big deals because they’re celebrities. But when you get to sit down and talk to them, you feel that if you really got to know them in the real world — instead of in this extraordinary world that we’re living in right now — they actually could wind up being your friends.”
It occurred to me as I read this that people were really hungry for a competent, grey-haired older man to come in and be calm and tell them reasonable things they can do to stay safe. Perhaps Fauci’s popularity was the best indicator for Joe Biden winning the presidency! Anyway, I like that Dr. Fauci is a real one and he’s not trying to be a “celebrity,” but is instead using his many platforms to simply inform and educate.
In a separate interview, Fauci spoke about the vaccination schedule and how we could possibly have a majority of the American public vaccinated by May-June, and if that’s the case, sports could really return by the middle of next year. Meaning, people could actually go to ball games or tennis matches, and maybe even concerts could start happening.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
All I know is I’m counting on that (normalcy by summer). I’m gonna spend the winter peddling my behind off on my new Peloton with glorious visions of the delayed beginning of my personal roaring 20’s dancing in my head. I’m not high risk, but have done everything as recommended by Fauci and other real experts. So I’m ready to go man.
It’s been funny for me because my mom worked at NIAID for years so Fauci was already a household name for us, so seeing him become this celebrity-like figure has been kind of weird – I cant even imagine what it’s been like for him!
I do think Fauci’s popularity was an indicator of how much Americans wanted someone reliable in the midst of a crisis. We wanted someone we could trust, someone who, while not perfect, is trying to make the best decisions he can with the information he has. And I do think Biden will also do that. It’s such a stark contrast to Trump, who keeps ranting and raving and coming up with stupid nicknames for people while over a quarter of a million Americans died on his watch.
I agree! Dr Fauci has been so calm on the face of attacks this year. But so have so many women. The right always has a woman boogie man… I cannot imagine how hostile trump would be if Dr Fauci was female. Honestly, the more Trump hates and attacks someone the more we (“socialists”) rally around him or her. Same thing for big Gretch.
But the same thing happens for Trump supporters. When speaking to them I try to be concise and firm “you had the president you wanted for 4 years but he has lost reelection and will be leaving.” Whenever I go hard they defend him like he’s an unfairly treated underdog who needs their support more.
All that I can recall is a press conference this summer where Trump was asked a medical question on the virus and instead of asking the expert, he decided to answer it. It must have been difficult for an educated man mike Fauci to have to deal with Trump while watching society boil in turmoil – both medically and politically – and be caught in the middle.
I bet Fauci, like the rest of us, cannot wait for 01/20/2021
Dr. Fauci has been the calm in this storm caused by Trumpism. If the experts had been allowed to handle this pandemic from the start we would be so much further along in controlling this. So many unnecessary deaths due to an Orange ignoramus. Perhaps the only way to convince the science deniers to get on board with the vaccine is to dangle the carrot of the return to major sports and concerts, travel etc.Then perhaps they’d cooperate.
Fauci has truly done this nation a great service. Without him telling the truth about the virus in the face of Trump’s lies, imagine how much worse this pandemic could’ve been. I think he’s a hero and will be remembered as one.
What I appreciate about him is that he hasn’t let the fame or notoriety go to his head. He just keeps peddling the same message over and over about safety precautions, timeline for the vaccine, and estimates of the surge of cases. So often you see these brief 15 minutes of fame (in Fauci’s case, 10 months with the length of a pandemic) really corrupt a person. So I’m sure this year has been incredibly surreal for him.
I adore this man. He is the genuine article and that has always been very clear to me.