Since the beginning of the pandemic, disciples of Dr. Anthony Fauci demanded adherence to science. Anyone who challenged the octogenarian medical advisor was labeled a science denier. That shielded Dr. Fauci and his partners at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) from legitimate professional criticism.
With the protection of the legacy media, Dr. Fauci and the CDC pushed for isolating an entire country and in the process shut down the world's biggest economy. They issued calls for mask and vaccination mandates. They lectured Americans on how many family members could attend a Christmas gathering.
In the beginning, Americans generally heeded the health warnings. They were frightened by dire news reporting, often lacking context, about the virus. The New York Times and other newspapers carried updated COVID death and case counts on the front pages. Fear was a weapon for compliance.
When miracle vaccines were introduced at the end of 2020, there appeared a light at the end of pandemic tunnel. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris evolved from suggesting the vaccines were rushed into production to becoming its biggest cheerleaders. Vaccines would halt the pandemic.
Administration officials, including the president, donned masks on every occasion, even wearing one as they walked to the podium in a nearly empty room. They were following the science. Masks work to protect the wearer from spreading or contracting the contagious virus. No one questioned the science.
Just when there appeared to be a rising optimism for a return to normal, President Biden unleashed executive orders to require vaccinations for Americans in businesses, government, the military and health care workers. The federal government usurped responsibility for Americans' health decisions,.
This appeared to many legal scholars to be unConstitutional, a breach of freedom. Court cases were filed by a growing number of states. Americans were divided into two camps: those who believed it was necessary to force Americans to get the jab versus those who wanted to make their own choice.
By mid-year in 2021, more Americans were wearying of the never ending mandates. They wanted to exercise their right of freedom from authoritarian rules. States began lifting mask mandates, opening schools, liberating citizens from Washington's vaccination obsession and resuming normal life.
Clearly, politics not science is carrying the day. Never was it more clear when Democrat states New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts and California announced last week they are revising or dropping mask mandates. Mandates are deeply unpopular with voters.
Ironically, these moves come at a time when the spread of COVID remains rampant. Hundreds of thousands of Americans are getting infected every day. More than 3,000 are dying. In January, COVID killed more Americans than the flu has in three years. There were 55,000 deaths, reports the CDC.
The seven-day fatality average in January was the highest point it has been since last winter before vaccines were widely available. Omicron is expected to push the U.S. total deaths past the one million mark, according to Andrew Noymer, a public health professor at University of California-Irvine.
So has the science of masks and vaccinations changed? Mask policies are the victim of an admission by the CDC that a cloth mask is virtually useless against the spread of COVID. And there have been thousands and thousands of so-called breakthrough cases of the fully vaccinated.
This month the CDC released a report showing that the effectiveness of the booster shot for fully vaccinated individuals begins to wane just four months after the jab, adding to public skepticism. In another surprising move, the FDA postponed its decision on a Pfizer vaccine for children four and under.
These are signs of a broad concession that vaccines are not the Holy Grail scientists once thought they were. The are better than no protection against COVID, especially for high risk Americans, but the vaccines do not last as long as the CDC and Dr. Fauci claimed at one time.
As a result, there has been a near total collapse of faith in the government, the CDC and Dr. Fauci in particular, when it comes to the pandemic. A NewsNationaPoll, conducted by Decision Desk HQ, found that a meager 15.5% trust the president and only 31% trust Dr. Fauci.
Other polls may show higher trust levels, but the research confirms Americans are losing faith in public health officials, particularly those in Washington. An ABC News survey found that 43% of Americans do not trust the CDC. Faith in Mr. Biden on the Coronavirus skidded to 37% in January.
The new media fared even worse. One poll found that only one-in-ten Americans trust the information churned out by the news media on the pandemic. At the same time, fully two-thirds of Americans trust the advice of their primary care provider on COVID.
A recent Kaiser Family Foundation poll reflects the growing resentment of Americans with continuing restrictions. In the survey, 75% of Americans expressed frustration and fatigue over the current state of the COVID pandemic. Fully 77% believe it is inevitable most people will be infected.
Some Democrat and Republican governors, eyeing upcoming midterms, are feeling the heat. That explains the about face on mask mandates and the softening of vaccine mandates. Despite the administration mandates, 63.6% of Americans are fully vaccinated as of January.
Politics is trumping science. As the pandemic has stretched through the months, the line between science and politics has been blurred. That partly explains the erosion of public trust. However, in a pandemic, trust in government and in one's fellow citizens is key to successful communications.
Dr. Fauci and the CDC were cast in the dominant role of the disseminating information on the virus. It was incumbent on those speaking for the administration to be accurate, transparent, and truthful. When decisions are communicated, Americans expect facts to support the health directive.
Unfortunately, the keepers of the information fell into a pattern of vacillating between contradictory positions, often igniting the flames of disinformation. Worst of all, instead of admitting mistakes or just acknowledging the answers were elusive, Washington's health officials were unrepentant.
Meanwhile, scientists, epidemiologists and health experts who disagreed with the prevailing advice from Dr. Fauci and the CDC were censored. They were booted off social media. Their studies were scrubbed from scientific websites Despite their credentials, they were not allowed to have a dissenting opinion.
The censorship was conducted with the full-throated backing of Dr. Fauci, the CDC and the administration. The move backfired. When you end debate on a novel virus and insist on only one version of science, public mistrust deepens. Americans are smarter than government officials believe.
Now even Dr. Fauci has joined the billowing chorus of health officials in predicting the "full blown" pandemic could be ending soon. He admitted that more health decisions will "increasingly be made at the local level rather than centrally" mandated.
Then the face of the pandemic did the unthinkable by adding: "There will also be more people making their own decision on how they want to deal with the virus." Hate to burst his self-inflated ego but many Americans have been doing this since the winter of 2020 passed.
The inimitable doctor and the CDC should take stock of their communications missteps. The lesson is trust is easily lost if Americans believe they are not getting the entire story. Every contradictory directive, unexplained advisory and inflexible restriction chips away at public trust.
Communications also should be tailored to specific audiences. At the start of the pandemic, more information should have been directed at the most vulnerable: the elderly, immune compromised and those with comorbidities. Instead, the government aimed its information at the general public.
Defenders of Dr. Fauci and the CDC will retort: the COVID virus was an epidemiological mystery that required more than a year to unravel. Fair enough. But it behoved officials to admit they didn't have all the answers. Temper advice with a caution that it is subject to change as more facts are known.
In a free society, health officials will fail or succeed in dealing with a pandemic by mobilizing public trust in the government and among its citizens. A thorough airing of the contrarian views from health experts is healthy. Showing trust in citizens to do the right thing is crucial.
Those are valuable lessons for health authorities to remember during the next pandemic.
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