Dr. Anthony Fauci joked about having cooked up COVID-19 in his kitchen just hours before he was booed by baseball fans on Tuesday as he threw out the first pitch prior to the Seattle Mariners game against the New York Yankees.
The chief medical advisor to President Joe Biden, Fauci took part in an interview led by friend and colleague Dr. Larry Corey regarding his work during the coronavirus pandemic.
Corey noted that, as they were in Washington state, they were ‘at the epicenter of the initial outbreak’ where WA1, the ancestral model strain that traveled with someone from Wuhan, China to Seattle, was first seen in America.
Fauci piped in with a joke: ‘No, I developed the ancestral model strain. I created it.’
The entire room started to laugh, with Corey responding: ‘That’s right, you let it loose’.
Dr. Anthony Fauci joked about having cooked up COVID-19 in his kitchen just hours before he was booed by baseball fans on Tuesday as he threw out the first pitch prior to the Seattle Mariners game against the New York Yankees
The chief medical advisor to President Joe Biden, Fauci took part in an interview led by friend and colleague Dr. Larry Corey (pictured left) regarding his work during the coronavirus pandemic
Corey noted that, as they were in Washington state, they were ‘at the epicenter of the initial outbreak’ where WA1, the ancestral model strain that traveled with someone from Wuhan, China to Seattle, was first seen in America. Fauci piped in with a joke: ‘No, I developed the ancestral model strain. I created it’
Fauci then quipped: ‘I was in my kitchen’ before they pivoted back to more serious matters.
The infectious diseases expert has seen a massive dip in his popularity since his meteoric rise to becoming a household name during the beginning of the pandemic, as over half of independent voters want him gone.
‘58.9 percent of independent voters believe Dr. Fauci should resign his position and role in leading the government’s COVID-19 response to allow for new leadership,’ a poll by the Convention of States Action showed earlier this year.
Those voters will likely get their wish — Fauci said in July he would be leaving his post by the end of President Joe Biden’s first term.
Dr. Anthony Fauci pumps his fist after successfully throwing the first pitch in the Seattle Mariners versus New York Yankees on August 7, 2022
Dr. Anthony Fauci’s pitch fell short of the plate and was several feet outside the strike zone when he threw out the first pitch in 2020
The White House chief medical adviser improved his throwing arm but not his public perception and pitched far better than he did two years ago, but was received poorly by the crowd.
Fauci infamously threw one of the worst opening pitches of all time when he threw the first pitch of the 2020 MLB season in Washington as he watched the Yankees beat the Washington Nationals 4-1.
The immunologist threw an accurate lob to Mariners manager Scott Servais when he attended the game at T-Mobile Park, and signed Servais’ mask afterwards.
Fauci was there to accept the Hutch Award, an annual award honoring Fred Hutchinson, a former MLB pitcher and manager who died from lung cancer in 1964.
The award is given to someone who ‘best exemplifies the fighting spirit and competitive desire of Hutchinson by persevering through adversity, according to a Seattle Mariners news release.
Fauci is only the second non-athlete to receive the award after former president Jimmy Carter won it in 2016.
Fauci, a native New Yorker, has served the US government for over five decades, holding a position under seven different presidents.
He has repeatedly called for stricter pandemic regulations, which have always drawn condemnation, but recently the horde against him has grown larger.
He became the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), a position he still holds, in 1984. From there, he led the nation through viral diseases including HIV/AIDS, Swine Flu, SARS, MERS, Ebola and ultimately Covid-19.
Fauci, pictured here in 2020 throwing the first pitch, received ridicule for his poor attempt at getting the ball over home plate
Fauci was happy to sign the mask of Mariners manager Scott Servais after he threw the pitch on Tuesday
Fauci has spoken about his anticipated trajectory of the current pandemic and said ‘I think we’re going to be living with this.’
‘It’s becoming more and more difficult to get people to listen,’ Fauci told Politico in July when he revealed he intends to retire.
‘They’re going to try and come after me, anyway. I mean, probably less so if I’m not in the job,’ he said on the possibility of a Republican-controlled House or Senate.
‘I don’t think they can say anything about the science,’ he said about Republicans in Congress calling for probes. ‘If that’s what you want to investigate, be my guest. My telling somebody that it’s important to follow fundamental good public health practices … what are you going to investigate about that?’
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