North Carolina: Fauci's Diary Reveals Role in 2020 School Delay

Carolina Journal's Nick Craig reports on newly reviewed diary entries from Dr. Anthony Fauci showing he advised then-North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper to delay his 2020 school reopening announcement by two weeks, a conversation Cooper did not disclose to the public at the time. Craig explains that Fauci's diary describes a 45-minute call with Cooper two days before a scheduled July 1, 2020 press conference, in which Fauci recommended delaying the reopening decision; Cooper announced the delay at that press conference without revealing the call had taken place. Craig notes Cooper ultimately allowed only limited in-person or fully remote options for the 2020-2021 school year, and that a monthslong standoff between Cooper and the Republican-led legislature followed in early 2021, with multiple veto overrides failing before schools reopened in person that March. He also cites North Carolina student achievement data that is only now approaching pre-pandemic levels six years later, and comments from John Locke Foundation president Donald Bryson on the importance of transparency in how the original decision was made. Thumbnail Photo Credit: Shealah Craighead / Trump White House Archived via Flickr / United States Government Work