Fauci says he dealt with ‘some crazy people’ in early days of pandemic, emails reveal

Correspondence from Dr Anthony Fauci at the start of the coronavirus pandemic revealed the infectious disease expert was well “despite some crazy people in this world”.

The 866 pages of emails sent between March and April 2020 were obtained by The Washington Post under the Freedom of Information Act, shedding light into the Trump administration's Covid response during the height of the world’s uncertainty.

Mr Fauci's assurances that he was doing well were in response to the director of the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, who wrote on 8 April asking if he was ok.

“I saw some news (hope it is fake) that [you] are being attacked by some people. Hope you are well under such a irrational situation,” Mr Gao wrote, according to the Post.

Mr Fauci replied three days later: “Thank you for your kind note. All is well despite some crazy people in this world.”

While he didn't say whether those "crazy people" were inside or outside of the White House, the Post notes that threats from the “crazy people” led to Mr Fauci being assigned a full-time security detail.

The emails also revealed his reaction to the 21 April cancellation of a White House press conference briefing, where he would often clash with Donald Trump over their views on the pandemic.

"Yikes………. That would make 4 days in a row without a Press Conference for me [smiley emojis]," he replied.

The concern from the head of China's CDC came after an earlier email exchange where Mr Gao apologised for a quote in Science Magazine that the US was making a “big mistake” by not recommending people wear masks.

“I saw the Science interview, how could I say such a word ‘big mistake’ about others? That was journalist’s wording. Hope you understand,” he wrote on 28 March. “Lets work together to get the virus out of the earth.”

Mr Fauci responded: “Thanks for the note, I understand completely. No problem. We will get through this together.”

In the early days of the pandemic, Mr Fauci told 60 Minutes in March 2020 “There's no reason to be walking around with a mask”, before saying by April that Americans should wear masks.

He admitted to CBS Evening News in July made the recommendation to save personal protective equipment for healthcare workers.

“I don't regret anything I said then because in the context of the time in which I said it, it was correct. We were told in our task force meetings that we have a serious problem with the lack of PPEs,” Fauci said.