In what has been an unusually depressing year for most, one person seems to have made it his best: Dr. Anthony Fauci.
The director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases has won multiple awards for his assistance to the White House throughout the coronavirus pandemic, including an award from the National Academy of Medicine and an award from the Treatment Action Group. He has been on the cover of several magazines, and he even received a nomination for People’s Sexiest Man Alive.
If that wasn’t enough, Fauci now has a holiday named after him. Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser announced last week that Dec. 24, heretofore known as Christmas Eve, will now become “Dr. Fauci Day,” a day to honor Fauci’s services throughout the coronavirus pandemic.
“In honor of Dr. Fauci’s 80th birthday tomorrow, I proclaim Thursday, December 24, 2020, ‘Dr. Anthony S. Fauci Day’ in Washington, D.C. We are incredibly proud to count Dr. Fauci among the many D.C. residents who are sacrificing so much to keep our communities healthy and safe,” Bowser said.
At least two people supported the move: California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who replied to Bowser, “Love this,” and Fauci, who was seen in a picture posing with Bowser’s “Fauci Day” order.
To be sure, Fauci deserves credit and appreciation for the work he’s done in regard to drafting coronavirus guidance and shaping public messaging. But this is no longer gratitude; it’s idolization. And it’s weird. Fauci is not on the front lines. He’s not even the one making coronavirus-related decisions. He is an adviser who goes on TV and shifts the goal posts with increasing frequency.
But this is par for the course for Bowser. This is the same mayor who mandated that all D.C. residents over the age of 3 wear masks outside despite the fact that COVID-19 transmission is nearly nonexistent outdoors. She also used her emergency authority during the pandemic to reduce speed limits across the city because, apparently, speeding has something to do with the coronavirus. And, of course, she broke her own coronavirus regulations to travel to Delaware to celebrate President-elect Joe Biden’s election win and then claimed that this counted as “essential” travel.
So, Bowser won’t follow Fauci’s guidelines in her own life or in the rules she imposes on her constituents. But replacing a Christian holiday with his name signals she’s on the side of SCIENCE!
—By Kaylee McGhee White
