Update: according to TMZ, Dr. Fauci’s first pitch “socially distanced from the strike zone.” Hahaha!
As the Washington Nationals/New York Yankees kick off the shortened MLB season in DC later today, a familiar face will be throwing out the first pitch: Dr. Anthony Fauci.
I can’t imagine what it must be like to be Dr. Fauci. As the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, he has become the face of the Coronavirus pandemic.
Just that would be enough for any person to endure. Add to it, Dr. Fauci seems to not always agree with the Trump administration’s handling of the pandemic.
After the President called him “a little bit of an alarmist,” Dr. Fauci told CNN, “I consider myself more of a realist.”
There’s an interesting piece in the New York Times about Dr. Fauci this week by Jennifer Senior who writes, “I spoke to Anthony Fauci. He says his inbox isn’t pretty.”
Although the doctor would not show the reporter his emails, he did give the impression that he gets a lot of nasty ones.
With that said, Fauci has some enormous favorability ratings. Seventy-two percent of Americans and 65 percent of Republicans approve of how he is handling things. Any politician in America would kill for those numbers.
Which brings us to the first pitch tonight.
Dr. Fauci is a Washington Nationals fan. He’s been seen wearing a Nationals mask around the Capital. The team said this: “Dr. Fauci has been a true champion for our country during the Covid-19 pandemic and throughout his distinguished career, so it is only fitting that we honor him as we kick off the 2020 season and defend our World Series Championship title.”
It’s certainly going to be a nice break for Dr. Fauci. An amazing career of public service and public health. His advice is not always the stuff we want to hear, but it’s the stuff we need to hear.
Like he said, he’s a realist.
I can only imagine how much better off we would be right now if we had just listened to him early on.
I hope we can finally heed his advice: “Wear a mask. Avoid crowds. Close the bars.”
A realist.