KPU Presents: A Conversation About the Covid-19 Pandemic with Dr. Anthony Fauci
By: Sophie Hathaway, KPU Deputy Director of Production
On the evening of Tuesday, October 6th, KPU had the great honor of hosting Dr. Anthony Fauci, the longstanding director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease and the current leader in the United States’ effort to combat COVID-19. In a mere matter of months, Dr. Fauci has become a household name, pop culture icon, and (to some) a contested source of information as he tries to do the impossible: control a pandemic as we go into flu season during a tense presidential election. As a public health major, I am coming into my career path during a time where very little makes sense, but I am so grateful to have Dr. Fauci at the forefront to remind us all how far a little humility, kindness, and belief in science can go.
Even over Zoom, Dr. Fauci brings an unmistakable warmth and openness to each conversation he engages in, whether it is greeting students, board members, or an old friend in the form of President Burwell. One of the first things you learn as a public health student is the importance of communication, specifically, how nothing will reach your intended audience if it isn’t communicated in a way they will understand. I certainly wouldn’t have imagined breaking down our nation’s COVID-19 response plan into an analogy about rowing, but for good communicators like Dr. Fauci, they do, and it works. Going forward, “we all need to row together,” meaning that if all states and territories are doing entirely different things, we are truly only taking one step forward, 10 steps back. But COVID-19 wasn’t the only topic covered that evening, and I think I would do the event an injustice by portraying that it was.
Dr. Fauci also offered his thoughts on the vast inequalities in our country and how the demonstrations and movements that have been growing throughout the US, as well as recent COVID-19 infection data, have once again reminded us of the systemic injustices that prevail. Dr. Fauci firmly reminded us that a solution to these issues will take a decades-long commitment or else we will continue to put the health outcomes of marginalized groups at risk, time and time again.
During the final minutes of his discussion, Dr. Fauci was asked by a member of the audience to give advice to students who are currently pursuing a degree in the sciences. Now for those of you who have never tried to pursue a BS, I will try my best to translate my experience into something more tangible. Often as a BS student you hit personal walls or have moments where you have put so much time into an experiment or data collection, and things just, well, don’t work. You burn the candle at both ends, much like other students, but your work/life balance is a little less guaranteed due to labs, lectures, studying, and research. As a BS student I think it is so important to be reminded constantly of what you are working for, especially if your end goal is to attain a PhD, MD, DO, etc. On Tuesday night Dr. Fauci reminded me, and so many students in the sciences, about the magic of science and the wonders it can create and facilitate both in public health and other disciplines.
In public health, we strive to know our population and what their social determinants of health look like so our interventions are as closely tailored as possible, and science can help us do that, but only if well communicated. In the field of public health what we need now more than ever are people committed to making science accessible and human again, like Dr. Fauci and his rowing analogy. Though I do not know what the next few weeks are going to bring, I do know I am grateful that we are in the hands of someone who has so much passion and commitment to his work. And perhaps things will get better if we can, in Dr. Fauci’s own words, “listen to me for 6 weeks or so, and do what I say, and you’ll see the numbers go down.” I know until then I and everyone else at KPU will keep doing what we do best. Hosting events, wearing masks, and trusting in science.
