https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/bill-gates-vaccine-adviser-was-seriously-worried-about-fauci-s-health-emails-show/ar-AAKCDwC?ocid=msedgntp

Bill Gates Vaccine Adviser Was 'Seriously Worried' About Fauci's Health, Emails Show

An executive at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation told Dr. Anthony Fauci that he was "seriously worried" about the infectious disease expert's health during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, released emails show.

On Tuesday, Buzzfeed News published around 3,200 pages of emails from Fauci's inbox, the most high-profile health expert communicating with the public during the pandemic, while The Washington Post released more than 860 pages.

Buzzfeed obtained emails from January to June 2020, while the Post saw correspondence from March to April of last year, showing an insight into the work and schedule of Fauci during the initial COVID-19 outbreak in the U.S.

One exchange obtained by the Post showed Emilio Emini, an executive at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in charge of coordinating vaccination efforts, raising concern with Fauci, 80, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, about the condition of his health.

Fauci was put in touch with Emini by Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates after he spoke to him on the phone about a global vaccine effort, according to the emails. The foundation's stated goal is to reduce inequality and improve healthcare around the world, and Gates has been a vocal figure throughout the pandemic and an advocate for vaccinations.

In an email apparently following their phone conversation, Fauci told Gates that he was "enthusiastic about moving forward on a collaborative and hopefully synergistic approach to COVID-19" with the foundation and federal health agencies.

After Gates put Fauci in touch with Emini, the executive got in contact with the nation's top infectious disease expert and raised concerns about the state of his health, amid the latter's frequent television appearances during the first wave of the pandemic.

"I see you on TV almost every day, and although you continue to have considerable energy, I am seriously worried about you," Emini wrote in an email dated April 2, 2020, obtained by the Post. "The nation and the world absolutely need your leadership."

Fauci replied to the executive at around 1:53 a.m. on April 3, saying: "I will try to engage as much as I can given my current circumstances."

The emails released on Tuesday highlighted the packed schedule Fauci faced throughout the first wave of the pandemic, with the health expert admitting in correspondence that he was not getting much sleep.

In an email from February 2, 2020, published by Buzzfeed, Fauci wrote: "This is White House in full overdrive and I am in the middle of it," and replied to a journalist just two days later, saying: "I am really tired. Not much sleep these days."

In another email released by Buzzfeed from February 5, 2020, Fauci said: "Am hanging in there. Feels like my internship and first year residency when I was on every other night and every other weekend, but actually never left the hospital because the patients were so sick."

Later in the month, Fauci received an email from National Institutes of Health director Dr. Francis Collins, where he wrote at the end of the correspondence: "Get some sleep!"

Fauci, who was tasked with communicating the science of the pandemic to the U.S., often had to contradict then President Donald Trump, as the latter appeared to play down the seriousness of the pandemic.

In a CNN interview in June 2020, Fauci explained that the work had been tough, saying: "I'm chronically fatigued, I don't get a lot of sleep. I'm constantly briefing, talking, doing things, hopefully getting the right cause out."

Despite his lack of sleep, the released emails showed that Fauci was courteous in his replies throughout the first wave of the pandemic, thanking those who offered suggestions and replying into the early morning hours.

Newsweek has contacted the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and a representative of Fauci for comment.

'Seriously Worried' About Fauci's Health

fauci didnt kill himself

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/man-who-punched-asian-woman-in-chinatown-was-arrested-17-times-before/ar-AAKDZDR?ocid=msedgntp

The man who punched a 55-year-old Asian woman in an unprovoked attack in New York City's Chinatown had reportedly been arrested 17 times before the Monday incident, officials said.

Alexander Wright, who was arrested shortly after the attack, was charged with one count of assault as a hate crime, assault and criminal possession of a controlled substance in connection to the incident that took place in broad daylight outside of a restaurant on Bayard Street.

In 2020, the suspect was arrested eight times, according to authorities.

"[Wright] lives in a shelter, arrested eight times in the last year, randomly assaulting people, setting fires. The guy that was arrested on Friday setting fires. What are we doing in society, we're releasing these people right back onto the street?" New York Police Department Commissioner Dermot Shea said, WCBS-TV reported on Wednesday.

The vicious attack was caught on surveillance video and widely shared on social media after New York State Assemblymember Yuh-Line Niou tweeted the clip, which a constituent had sent to her.

The video shows a woman walking down the sidewalk before a man in an orange hoodie sucker-punches her in the face. The woman's head whips back and her cap falls off as she collapses to the ground. Several bystanders are seen gathering around her to check on her.

Police arrested the attacker shortly after, identifying 48-year-old Wright as the assailant. He is currently undergoing mental evaluation at Bellevue Hospital.

During a Wednesday press conference, mayoral candidate Andrew Yang criticized the city's handling of perpetuators.

"New York City has failed this woman. New York City has failed all of us," Yang said. "Alexander Wright should not have been on our streets. Some crimes are unforeseeable. This was completely foreseeable. Alex Wright had been arrested 17 times—8 times in the last year alone."

In New York City, police have investigated 42 attacks on Asian Americans during the first quarter of this year—a 223 percent increase from the same time last year, according to a report from the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino.

The NYPD has also created an Asian Hate Crime Task Force to address the rising violence.

But Yang emphasized that these attacks are not only racially motivated, but the result of a system that allows former criminals back into society with little help.

"For anyone watching this, who thinks this is an Asian issue, it is not only an Asian issue… This was not someone who was only victimizing Asian Americans, he was victimizing New Yorkers," Yang said on Wednesday.