Fauci Leaving-Good or Bad

[PLATO]

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-62637432

Looks like the good Doctor is vacating the premises and moving on to other endeavors. He has been head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for a very long time. Will his experience be missed or is it really time for new blood at the helm? Certainly seems like he became a polarizing figure at the end, but did see the nation through things like HIV, ebola, and (of course) the coranavirus. Wonder what his legacy will be in 30 years time?

[EPW]

He was in an unbelievably difficult position and handled himself well --- but as a scientist I think you need to stick strictly with the truth and he strayed from that more than once during the pandemic. His involvement with gain-of-function research[which should be banned IMO] is murky and I'm not quite ready to condemn him for that. I give him a tentative vote of approval but we could have done better but also a hell of a lot worse.

[Jon Miller]

I think he has done a good job overall.

As someone who has worked as a scientist (particle physics not biomedical science), in general I think that extremely senior people need to be more willing to move on and allow senior, but less senior, people to take leadership positions.

JM

[Berzerker]

He lied about masks and his estimates of herd immunity and downplayed or ignored any immunity acquired from the virus. I assume he supported the vaccine mandates, another freaking mess that led to all sorts of shortages from 1st responders and teachers to consumer products. Here's a bright idea, lets fire health care providers during a pandemic. Unfortunately the vaccines leaked and that aint his fault, but his lies early in 2020 helped spread the bug. Hey, cant have you peons running out buying up masks, we need them.

and god only knows where this virus came from and his role if it was a lab

[N35t0r]

You saw what happened to TP? Imagine if you dumbasses had gone out buying masks like that in the opening months. Okay, some less spread among people, but all of a sudden a lot of hospitals would have a serious shortage of them.

That means either medical professionals refusing to work for lack of minimum PPE, or more medical professionals with COVID (and remember that first strain was nastier than what is going around now).

That would have led to a lot more deaths.

[PLATO]

What would have been wrong with just telling the truth? "Medical professionals need masks to be able to take care of the ill and prevent further spread. The gov't is going to requisition all masks until the PPE crisis for medical professionals is past. Put simply...if they die, you die. We will make masks available to everyone as soon as possible." No...much easier to not trust the public and lie. That is not acceptable in a free country with a government that serves at the pleasure of the people.