Dr. Fauci spends his 80th birthday being a homebody

U.S. National Institutes of Health Director Anthony S. Fauci, the nation’s highest-ranking health expert on viruses, celebrated his 80th birthday home on Thursday (local time), showing a great example as the leader in quarantine and disease control, according to The Washington Post and The Guardian.

Dr. Fauci has spent most of his birthdays, on Christmas Eve, visiting his sister’s place with his family in Virginia. However, this year he decided to stay home with his wife in Washington, D.C. due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. He said hello on a video call to the rest of his family living across the U.S. including his three daughters. He said in an interview that he does not want to make himself a government official who has fun at a party while advising the public to refrain from traveling. 　

Dr. Fauci's wife, Dr. Christine Grady, threw a surprise party, inviting 15 family members and friends on video conference app Zoom, although it was not a big celebration at a high-end restaurant. He was surprised and amused on the previous day by first-aid workers who fought hard with him against the coronavirus. They gathered to sing a surprise happy birthday song to the director who was on his way home on Wednesday afternoon in front of the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland.

Serving as an infectious disease advisor to six U.S. presidents, Dr. Fauci earned public trust by mincing no words in publicly criticizing U.S. President Donald Trump for neglecting the gravity of the pandemic. Dr. Fauci was selected as the “Guardians of the year” along with medical professionals across the globe on Dec. 11 by U.S. weekly news magazine TIME.


Jae-Dong Yu jarrett@donga.com