(Washington) The highly respected Dr Anthony Fauci, the main adviser to US President Joe Biden on the health crisis, has tested positive for COVID-19, the National Institute of Infectious Diseases, of which he is the director, announced on Wednesday.
Updated yesterday at 5:21 p.m.
The octogenarian, who quickly became the face of the fight against the pandemic in the United States, is vaccinated against COVID-19 and received two booster doses, the institute (NIAID) said in a press release. Her symptoms are mild.
Anthony Fauci “will isolate himself and continue to work from home”, according to the press release. He has not recently been in contact with Joe Biden, it was clarified.
In 2020, this doctor by training, already famous in the world of infectious diseases and the fight against AIDS, but still little known to the general public, was thrown into the limelight by joining the presidential cell on the coronavirus. , when Donald Trump was in power.
His tirelessly repeated simple messages and his countless television appearances made him the reassuring figure that America needed.
But he, who had always been careful to stay away from politics, is gradually becoming the favorite target of the conservatives, in a context of very strong politicization of the health crisis in the United States.
“He is vaccinated eight times and quadruple masked, and yet the corona still made its way. SCIENCE ! “, mocked Wednesday on Twitter the son of the former president, Donald Trump Jr.
Cases of infections despite vaccination have increased since the appearance of Omicron, sub-variants of which are causing the current wave in the United States.
Anthony Fauci, 81, had so far managed to avoid catching COVID-19, being very careful. For example, he had recently refused to participate in the dinner of White House correspondents, an event which then turned out to be a source of infection.
The United States is currently registering more than 100,000 new cases of COVID-19 per day, a figure that is greatly underestimated according to experts, in particular because of the now widespread use of self-tests, the results of which are not necessarily communicated to authorities.