Dr. Fauci & Coincidental Fires
A gedankenexperiment:
Let’s suppose you’re at (the bar or Dunks or wherever) and there are a few of you gathered and shooting the shit. The topic turns to a notable building in town, say a well-known mansion. And suppose one of your number – an electrician – says, “I’m surprised that place hasn’t burned to the ground yet.”
And let’s say a few weeks later, it does.
You’d probably shrug and mentally note the electrician likely knew something about the state of the wiring in the place, so got it right.
Let’s suppose, instead, what your electrician says is, “Before the month’s out, that place will burn to the ground.” And it does.
That’s a little specific, especially given the guy’s an electrician.
Well:
Anthony S. Fauci, MD, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said there is “no doubt” Donald J. Trump will be confronted with a surprise infectious disease outbreak during his presidency.
Fauci has led the NIAID for more than 3 decades, advising the past five United States presidents on global health threats from the early days of the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s through to the current Zika virus outbreak.
During a forum on pandemic preparedness at Georgetown University, Fauci said the Trump administration will not only be challenged by ongoing global health threats such as influenza and HIV, but also a surprise disease outbreak.
“The history of the last 32 years that I have been the director of the NIAID will tell the next administration that there is no doubt they will be faced with the challenges their predecessors were faced with,” he said.
While observers have speculated since his election about how Trump will respond to such challenges, Fauci and other health experts said Tuesday that preventing disease pandemics often starts overseas and that a proper response means collaboration between not only the U.S. and other countries, but also the public and private health sectors.
“We will definitely get surprised in the next few years,” he said.
Not a maybe, not a highly-probably, “no doubt” and “definitely.”