Q&A: NIAID’s Jeanne Marrazzo speaks on bird flu, mpox, and succeeding Anthony Fauci
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An interview with the director of the NIAID, Jeanne Marrazzo, on bird flu, mpox, the post-Fauci era and more.

Jeanne Marrazzo, new leader of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, everyone:

Can I make a quick digression? We recently had a long Covid [research] meeting where we had about 200 people, in person. And we can’t mandate mask-wearing, because it’s federal property. But there was a fair amount of disturbance that we couldn’t, and people weren’t wearing masks, and one person accused us of committing a microaggression by not wearing masks.

And I take that very seriously. But I thought to myself, it’s more that people just want to live a normal life. We really don’t want to go back. It was so painful. We’re still all traumatized. Let’s be honest about that. None of us are over it.

So there’s not a lot of appetite for raising an alarm, especially if it could be perceived subsequently as a false alarm.

Edit - thanks for the help in bypassing the paywall.

  • Chronicon [comrade/them]
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    1 month ago

    But I thought to myself, it’s more that people just want to live a normal life. We really don’t want to go back. It was so painful. We’re still all traumatized. Let’s be honest about that. None of us are over it.

    honestly? no it wasn't. I didn't love it, it didn't improve my life, certainly, but by and large life just went on, for me and for most people I know. It felt like we were mostly all doing the right thing and cooperating as a society for once, for a brief while. When things really got traumatizing was for immunocompromised people when society just gave up on them