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Fauci Warned The Trump Administration of a Potential Epidemic Way Back in 2017
Anthony Fauci in the White House on 12 March 2020. (Win McNamee/Getty Images News)
TYLER SONNEMAKER, BUSINESS INSIDER
15 APRIL 2020
Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), warned members of the incoming Trump administration in January 2017 about the inevitability of a "surprise outbreak" of a new disease. He said at the time that the US needed to do more to prepare.
"There is no question that there will be a challenge to the coming administration in the arena of infectious diseases," Fauci said during a speech at Georgetown University, adding, "the thing we're extraordinarily confident about is that we're going to see this in the next few years."
Fauci specifically singled out the risks posed by unknown diseases, in addition to those from existing or re-emergent ones. Fighting infectious diseases, he said, is a "perpetual challenge".
Responses to past outbreaks like Zika and HIV/AIDS offer lessons for the incoming administration, Fauci added; he has led NIAID since 1984 and advised six US presidents on public-health crises.
More:
https://www.sciencealert.com/niaid-director-warned-us-government-of-a-surprise-outbreak-in-2017
