He warned the upcoming Trump administration would face 'challenges' with infectious diseases in a Georgetown speech.
Dr. Anthony Fauci warned of a 'surprise outbreak' three years before the COVID-19 pandemic
His speech about 'Pandemic Prepardness' was made in February 2017 at Georgetown University
Fauci said the upcoming administration would 'no doubt' face challenges with infectious diseases
He added that he's more worried of an influenza pandemic than the HIV crisis and bio-terror attacks
Several healthcare professionals have and continue to discuss novel outbreaks
In his speech titled 'Pandemic Preparedness in the Next Administration,' Dr. Fauci told attendees at Georgetown University in January 2017 that the upcoming presidential administration would face 'challenges' with infectious diseases.
At the time, President Trump had taken office that month.
Fauci said: 'If there's one message that I want to leave with you today that is based on my experience... there is no question that there will be a challenge [for] the coming administration in the arena of infectious diseases.
'But also there will be a surprise outbreak...there is no doubt in anyone's mind [the administration] will be faced with challenges their predecessors were faced with.'
Dr. Fauci, who served under five presidential administrations, later added that he cautioned former President George W. Bush to be more concerned with a potential 'influenza pandemic' than bioterrorism.
'I worry more about the natural occurrence of an influenza pandemic and the ongoing plague of HIV than I do about a bio-terror attack,' he said, adding that people should pay attention to natural causes.
In regards to the Trump administration, Fauci mentioned possible challenges that included a resurgence in the Zika Virus or a new flu pandemic.
He said: 'What is for sure...history has told us definitively that it will happen because infectious diseases [are] a perpetual challenge.'
Like Dr. Fauci, other researchers and medical leaders, have long discussed a novel, unprecedented illness that would permeate the world and leave lasting effects on global societies.
In 2015, Microsoft founder Bill Gates speculated in a Ted Talk that illness would be the cause of future mass casualties - not wars.
'If anything kills over 10 million people in the next few decades, it’s most likely to be a highly infectious virus rather than a war. Not missiles, but microbes,' he said, citing lessons learned from Western Africa's 2014 Ebola virus as reference.
But the parameters and specific characteristics of the illness were unclear before COVID-19 appeared in Wuhan, China, in late-December.
Since its first appearance last year, there are over one million confirmed coronavirus cases and at least 64,000 deaths.
Although coronavirus initially devastated countries like China and Italy, the United States has become the world leader in confirmed cases at 311,632. At least 8,503 people have died.
National epicenters like New York have taken the brunt of the deadly pandemic amid a shortage in medical supplies, like face masks and gloves, and a lapse in COVID-19 testing.
Poster Comment:
This is from 2020 so it has dated information but the premise is true that Fauci was warning us of covid as was Bill Gates.