It has become common among certain observers on the right to disparage Dr. Fauci, as for example here. I don’t share that view although I will allow he isn’t always correct in his predictions.
He is frequently asked to predict things he honestly has no way of knowing, and too often he gives what has to be his current opinion, or guess. I suppose he does this because he feels he ought to know or wishes he did know the answer.
What we have to remember is that Fauci’s focus is the disease, not the economic havoc the preventative measures have caused. He answers as a doctor - which he is - not as an economist - which he is not.
We need to take his recommendations and those of Dr. Birx as medical advice, then we need to factor in the economic and social aspects of the situation before deciding what to do. It makes no sense to get mad at Fauci for being a medico, that’s what we hired him to do.
If you think the President or, for that matter, your governor has an easy task sorting through all the conflicting pressures and advice, think again. Because Murphy’s Law works overtime, it turns out the needs we have are often, if not diametrically, at least partially opposed.
We need to stay well and we need to have a functioning country when this disease goes away or becomes routine. We need to balance deaths from Covid-19 against so-called “deaths of despair”- suicide, drug or alcohol overdose, etc. We need to mostly protect old people and not so much others, and we need to figure out how to do this when many fortunate older Americans are not in long-term care but living among us at least semi-independently.
