A Hero Most Needed

usfman

June 4

What memories stand out for you concerning the past spread of COVID?

"Emerging infections are a perpetual challenge.The only way you address a perpetual challenge is by perpetual preparedness." (Dr.Anthony Fauci)

Yesterday I watched a report on PBS that stated Dr. Anthony Fauci's being investigated by Congress for possible wrongdoing and criminal activity during the COVID crisis. How shocking this seems as I vividly recall him as America's foremost media spokesperson for stopping the spread of the COVID epidemic in recent years.

So for the sake of defense against such accusations, let me first turn to his track record as a major medical advisor for seven Presidential administrations. For Dr. Fauci not only spearheaded over his long tenure a definitive medical response to COVID, but he played a vital role as well in helping to deter the incidence of other contagious viral diseases like HIV/AIDS, SARS, the SWINE FLU,MERS, and EBOLA. He also had been widely praised for his timely leadership as an expert to develop drugs and vaccines for military and civilian use following the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

But beyond these impeccable credentials, it's pretty clear in my memory, that in the absence of Dr. Fauci's straightforward directives in favor of masking, social distancing, and vaccine inoculations from 2020 onward, I would have become a saddened victim of COVID for sure. Consider in this regard as this contagious virus began to spread wildly across the country during that era, Ruth and I remained determined to continue our month to month, cross country travels and global journeys. So in fact we risked taking six road trips during those peak infectious years along with an intense tour of Southern India.

To prepare for such health challenges, we thus depended on stayed diligently current with the latest Fauci recommendations. For road trips, that meant taking the vaccines required, limiting our social visits, eating most our meals in secluded private places and stocking up in our vehicle with plentiful supplies of masks and anti germ moisturizers. As for India, we made frequent contacts with our tour operator as to whether in fact our trip would go on. As a result, we felt quite self assured when the journey did proceed on the intended date schedule with all members of our group fully complying with Dr. Fauci's COVID restrictions.

In spite of our enhanced COVID awareness, nevertheless, we experienced undesired stress during scheduled road trip stopovers at several touristic places such as Smoky Mountain National National Park, Bourbon Street, New Orleans and Las Vegas "Casino Land". For we noticed on those occasions that many people along crowded corridors there simply ignored masking and distancing guidelines. Meanwhile, we'd already "caught on"to the COVID danger message quite clearly with restaurants offering only "takeout", motels eliminating breakfast ,and COVID testing sites popping up seemingly everywhere at random.

So whether such misguided public behavior against COVID preparedness happening around us resulted from ignorance or just plain rebellion, either way you could not blame Dr. Fauci's spreading scientific based recommendations to the public at the time. On the other hand, one might in retrospect consider to what extent Donald's Trump's several misleading statements about the COVID virus during his Presidency (ie. injecting bleach as a treatment for one ) contributed to such widespread COVID confusion.

Know then to this day, I have never been diagnosed with COVID. But was it just good luck? No I doubt it. For I can only thank that little voice in my head of Dr. Fauci's habitual reminders to take the COVID epidemic seriously and proceed forward with the right action when it vitally mattered.

Source:

https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Fauci