“Nothing We Can Do” About Trajectory of the Pandemic?

“There’s nothing we can do to change the trajectory of the pandemic in the next several months,” said President Joe Biden on January 22. As the CNBC report noted, “it wasn’t immediately made clear what projections Biden was referencing,” and “a spokesperson for the Biden administration was not immediately available for comment regarding the president’s projections.” This marks something of a departure for Biden. 

Last October, candidate Biden said he would “listen to the scientists,” and in January, Dr. Celine Grounder of Biden’s COVID-19 advisory board said, “the Biden brand is to follow the science,” and “everything will be informed by science.” On the other hand, there’s nothing scientific about the proclamation that “there’s nothing we can do” about the trajectory of the pandemic. That claim reportedly came after a meeting with Dr. Anthony Fauci, but Biden did not cite the longtime National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases boss, who also leaves embattled Americans puzzled. 

Last January 21, Fauci assured the nation the virus emerging from China, while needing to be taken seriously and warranting steps taken by the CDC and Department of Homeland Security, “is not something the citizens of the United States should now be worried about.” Fauci opposed President Trump’s travel ban on China and later credited the action with saving lives. Dr. Fauci has also flip-flopped on the efficacy of masks, and recently moved the goalposts on herd immunity, all without a single admission of being wrong. Fauci has also been evasive about dangerous gain of function research, and the funds NIAID channeled to the Wuhan Institute of Virology. 

Biden’s proclamation that “there’s nothing we can do” ignores the massive Centers for Disease Control, which deploys the Epidemic Intelligence Service, tasked to prevent malevolent viruses from arriving in America. With the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, the EIS was an abject failure, so the so-called “medical CIA” might indeed be useless in changing the pandemic’s trajectory over the next few months.

Prophecies of a “dark winter” are not science, and neither is the notion that “there’s nothing we can do.” A president who listens to the science would provide hard data on the true mortality rate, the true number of fatalities, and the recovery rate. The science behind the seasonality of the coronavirus would also be useful, along with a full accounting of the liaisons between NIAID and the Wuhan Institute of Virology. With a pandemic still in play, the people have a right to know.