Fauci on COVID-19 fight: US has 'done worse than most any other country'

We’re doing pretty great on vaccinations.

The US is 9th on worldometers in deaths per capita. I would rank the US's problems \-highest levels of obesity (aka mass preexisting conditions which is probably #1) \-open travel (both international for imported spread, and interstate for regional control). The only states under 800 deaths per million are secluded (Maine, Hawaii, Alaska, Utah, Oregon, Vermont) \-regional differences. It is super hard to have 1 sized policies when spreads occur at different rates in different conditions. The south is more suspect in the summer. The north is more suspect in the winter. No matter what there will be a hot spot based on nature of disease spread and people being inside. ​ To defend the US I will say the first world (Europe/NA) has gotten it. There was no avoidance unless we locked down 6 months and shut borders 2 years. Comparing the US to Europe, 2/3rds of Europe has over 800 deaths per million including all the big major countries. Getting people to go along with everything 1.5+ years is a big ask

The US is really bad when you compare it to countries like South Korea and Vietnam. Obama left Trump a pandemic playbook and response team. Trump ignored the first, fired the second and made wearing masks political. Now we are left with 500,000 deaths, while a country like Vietnam (with a population of 100 million) has only 35 deaths. It's a failure of epic proportions.

México: hold my tequila I mean, seriously, at least US has vaccinated a decent amount of their population. México hasn't even vaccinated 5% and we're begging for vaccines to other countries.

Fauci has had some gaffs and most of the shit he says really stings considering everything we’ve been thru in the last year, but cold reality-based statements such as this are refreshing and grounding, false hope isn’t his game and I appreciate that. While I’m sure other countries have been underreporting their numbers (Putin for example), or lack the capacity to throughly test and keep consistently accurate records, the numbers we do have show that the US has had 20+ percent of cases and deaths of the entire pandemic, despite having not even 3% of the world’s population. This with the incredible wealth the country has at its disposal, and the fact we watched China and then Europe develop outbreaks and did nothing until it was way too late.

This is the same man that said New York did it correctly.

Yes. The US is fifth highest of any country in COVID deaths per 100k population ([Johns Hopkins](https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/data/mortality))

He is correct but messaging style infuriates those he wants to get onboard. For the States where the headline means so much this is biting and poignant

Truth.

meanwhile, water is wet.

Given we had a completely new and unknown virus introduced into our population a year ago, and an anemic, disjointed, half-assed response strategy, with 9% of our population having tested positive, we could almost consider ourselves “lucky” / fortunate that it wasn’t worse.

In terms of epidemiology? maybe. in terms of the economic and social impact (which matter, despite what this sub thinks) the US will be far better off than say the UK in the long run.

Yup.

Maybe, it would have helped if you didnt tell the US population that they shouldnt wear masks.

I feel like Fauci is like one of the stereotypical geniuses who are elite in their craft, but lacking in terms of social awareness and how his message delivery can be perceived (think Sheldon from Big Bang Theory). It doesn't matter that what he says it true or not, and for someone with his position in the public spotlight the perception and interpretation is unfortunately as critical as the message itself since it directly impacts how people respond. Fauci (and the whole nation) could benefit in having his own "marketing" or communications/pr team...

It’s something we have to admit and address

He's right. Why sugar coat it? We've had an atrocious response and it didn't have to be that way. Let's not lull ourselves into a mindset we did just fine and repeat this disaster in the future.

I love this armchair psychiatrist, economist, sociologist etc. downvote me I don’t care. Fauci is a political hack at this point.

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What does "worse than most any other country" mean? Worse than most other countries in the world (so worse than median)? That's probably true, but that applies by definition to half of the countries, so it's not that bad. Worse than any other country. That's most likely not true. Or let's put it that way that it's pretty much impossible to find any per capita metric that the US would have done worse than any other country in the world. Of course if you drop the per capita and look at absolute numbers, then maybe, but that kind of comparisons are silly and I wouldn't think Fauci would be that stupid to think that they would have any value. Using this kind of metric would make California the worst state in the US even though its deaths/capita numbers are below national average. I'm not saying that the US has done great, but I'm just trying to get to the bottom of what Fauci is trying to say.

We only did good with testing and vaccinations. Everything else was flop after flop.

I'm an American who often envies other developed countries such as Canada and Europe for doing a better job in taking care of their poor and providing a decent life for everyone via things like national health care. But during this pandemic, I find myself extremely grateful that I live in the United States and that I am not in Canada or Europe. It seems like Canada and much of Europe are stuck on harsh lockdowns that focus on fighting the virus no matter what the cost to people's wellbeing or mental health. Many of those restrictions have little to no base in science- for example limits on outdoor socialization. It's kept me sane going on walks with my friend group, eating on patio restaurants, occasionaly have a get together where everyone tests and quarantines first... but in much of the world that's illegal. It's been hard enough as it is, I can't imagine how badly I would have fallen apart if I had to live in one of the endless lockdown countries. (Yes, I know this is different country by country the exact rules). Yes, we've had a relatively high number of deaths per 100k people, but still lower than countries such as UK and Italy. I suspect given our obesity rate in this country, we were destined to have a harder time with this anyway. It seems like the US is a rare country to acknowledge that lockdowns have severe costs, such as higher rates of depression substance abuse, that need to be weighed against whatever marginal lower caseload they achieve. Canada and Europe can keep their lockdowns if their values push them to put safety above all else, but I for one am really glad to be living in the United States for this.

Lol, no shit.

Truth hurts sometimes but we need to face it nonetheless...

He's not wrong.

Your leadership is part of that failure, Doc.

I wish this guy would shut up already. And he's wrong again, btw. Many nations had many more deaths per capita, and our nation is in the top 2 as far as vaccine distribution.

ITT: Americans butthurt cause they have the memory of a shoe and already forgot about their devastatingly poor pandemic response.

Fauci is really trying to earn the hate and distrust of the nation.