As Virus Spread, Fauci Compared COVID-19 to ‘Seasonal Flu’

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Top doc urged reporters to cover flu, not COVID, in early days of pandemic

Dr. Anthony Fauci displayed a flippant attitude about travel and failed to understand the severity of COVID-19 during the early stages even as clear warning signs emerged, according to emails reviewed by the Washington Free Beacon.

On Feb. 25, 2020, CBS News asked Fauci for advice in its coverage of COVID-19. Fauci told the network to emphasize the “real and present danger” of the seasonal flu even as the Centers for Disease Control prepared to classify COVID-19’s spread as a pandemic that very day. The emails reveal how Fauci steered the media’s early coverage of COVID-19. Just two weeks before President Donald Trump declared the virus a national emergency, he told CBS to not “yield to unreasonable fear [about COVID-19]” nor allow the “fear of the unknown” pandemic to “distort” the evaluation of everyday risks.

Fauci did not respond to a request for comment.

Fauci’s comments echoed the erroneous prognostications of the Washington Post, NPR, and other outlets that published articles claiming the flu presented a greater risk to public health than COVID-19. Those reports, many of which were published in late January and February, along with Fauci’s downplaying of the severity of COVID-19 hampered the country’s early response to contain its spread.

Fauci received a number of emails from other colleagues in the medical community that argued COVID-19 could quickly spin out of control in the run-up to the CBS inquiries. Before Fauci suggested CBS emphasize the danger of the flu, he seemingly contradicted himself by telling one medical professional the same day that early data suggested COVID was far deadlier. “In other words,” Fauci wrote, “it could be worse than you think.” – READ MORE

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