When Words Matter: Dr. Anthony Fauci

Never before have words been as crucial as in the time of Coronavirus. We are clamoring for information and advice, but whose words do you trust when your life may depend on them?

My money is on trusted public health icon, Dr. Anthony Fauci, an American physician and immunologist who has served as the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases since 1984. His unbending altruism places the health of the American people above all.

Here are some of Dr. Fauci’s own words. It’s much easier to accept the hard-hitting truth when it comes from someone you trust.

“I have no ideology. My ideology is health.”

“I take the tack that I will say what’s true and whatever happens, happens,”

“What we have right now is something that’s very different and very acute and very threatening. And the reason people are getting anxiety about it—in some respects, appropriately so—is because it seems that no one is safe from this. It’s a diffuse respiratory illness that has a high degree of morbidity and mortality, particularly among certain vulnerable populations, like the elderly and those with underlying conditions. This is unprecedented. I’ve been doing this a long time, and I’ve never seen anything like this.”

“I wash my hands 100 times a day. I don’t ever shake hands with anybody. And when I’m talking to somebody, I try to stay six feet away from them. So I am doing that.”

“Younger people should be concerned for two reasons. You are not immune or safe from getting seriously ill. Even though when you look at the total numbers, it’s overwhelmingly weighted toward the elderly and those with underlying conditions. But the virus isn’t a mathematical formula. There are going to be people who are young who are going to wind up getting seriously ill. So protect yourself, but remember that you can also be a vector or a carrier. And even though you don’t get seriously ill, you could bring it to a person, who could bring it to a person, that would bring it to your grandfather, your grandmother or your elderly relative. That’s why everybody has to take this seriously, even the young.”

“No crowds. Don’t get on crowded planes if you’re a senior citizen, particularly with an underlying condition. Don’t get on a cruise ship for sure.”

“Tell patients to wash their hands and if they live with someone who is immunocompromised, they “almost have to act like [they themselves] are infected.”

“We’ll be thankful that we’re overreacting.”