Fauci tells Washington U. med school grads to push back against anti-science 'destructive forces'

May 16—ST. LOUIS — Dr. Anthony Fauci urged a class of graduating medical students to adopt the hard-won lessons of the U.S. response to the COVID pandemic and warned against the "dangerous undercurrent" of anti-science sentiment that has grown stronger over the past three years.

Fauci was in St. Louis on Monday to address students graduating from the Washington University School of Medicine. He called on medical professionals to speak out with evidence-based, truthful information.

"Do not hesitate to push back on these destructive forces, with civility, but also with all the strength you can muster," he said. Throughout the pandemic, Fauci has drawn adoration from those who viewed him as a voice of reason in the crisis, and vitriol from those who believed the COVID-era public health recommendations were oppressive.

As he spoke, a group of about 60 people were gathered outside to protest his appearance, having marched to campus from an earlier rally at Shaw Park in downtown Clayton. That event was attended by Eric Nepute, a Creve Coeur chiropractor facing a federal lawsuit for false claims that his vitamin products are more effective than COVID-19 vaccines, and Katherine Pinner, a former Republican candidate for St. Louis County Executive who has espoused conspiracy theories including that masks are linked to "satanic ritual abuse."

Fauci, who recently stepped down after 38 years as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and from his role as the president's chief medical adviser, urged the graduates to learn from experts' experiences with the unpredictable nature of the pandemic. He recounted how public health officials were humbled when they realized the coronavirus' ability to spread from people who showed no symptoms, and when it continued to mutate rapidly, into new and challenging strains.

His visit came at a time of transition in the COVID-19 crisis, for which Fauci has been America's most visible communicator. His remarks echoed sentiments expressed by federal and international health authorities in recent weeks: While COVID-19 still poses a threat, it will no longer be treated as an emergency.

"Although the emergency is ending, we are still not completely out of the woods," Fauci said.

The U.S. is still seeing an "unacceptably high" level of deaths, he said, but the numbers are far lower than they were 18 to 24 months ago. He stopped short of declaring an end to the pandemic.

Four days before Fauci's remarks at Washington University, the Biden administration allowed the U.S. public health emergency to expire, sunsetting a slew of regulatory and financial mechanisms the country had relied on during the crisis. Earlier in the month, the World Health Organization — the United Nations' health agency — downgraded the designated threat level for COVID-19, determining that it is no longer an emergency.

The virus still poses disruptions to daily life, and scientists are still monitoring circulating variants for signs of concern. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported more than 1,100 deaths the week of April 15, the most recent non-preliminary data, and experts have reportedly warned top U.S. officials that there is still some chance of another significant wave.

Dr. Alex Garza, SSM Health's chief community health officer, said that while COVID-19 won't go away, it seems like the virus is finally reaching a stage where it becomes endemic and follows more predictable patterns.

That transition is always better understood after the fact, Garza added. But the virus is no longer new. There will be spikes at times, but COVID-19 will likely become more of a seasonal phenomenon.

For many, the emergence of Fauci as a national, go-to expert on the pandemic was a source of relief. Spring Schmidt, the St. Louis County health department's former deputy director, recalled that in the early days of the outbreak, desperate for information and unable to find it elsewhere, residents turned to their county health department with questions that national and international authorities could not yet answer.

Fauci stepped in and explained, under the national spotlight, what experts learned as they learned it. He described what was known and unknown about how the virus spreads, how it can be limited and how COVID-19 can be treated.

"He put himself out there. He said hard things. People really looked to him and responded to him. And then they got disappointed and angry with him, too. And he bore a lot of that, on behalf of all of us," Schmidt said.

Fauci said he wants the medical students graduating to know that they "should not sit back and accept the normalization of untruths."

"You've got to counter it. You can't give them an open field and surrender," Fauci added.

Nassim Benchaabane of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.

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