Anthony Fauci, the top infectious disease expert for the United States’ government, frequently appeared at awkward COVID-19 press conferences with Donald Trump. As Fauci held his first press conference since Joe Biden took office, he was asked how the atmosphere had changed under the new president.
“The idea that you can get up here and talk about what you know — what the evidence, what the science is — and that’s it, let the science speak,” Fauci said Thursday. “It is somewhat of a liberating feeling.”
“Liberating” is a good word for the wider mood since Biden became president January 20. Even as a global pandemic rages, economies struggle and climate change threaten the future of the planet, it’s hard not feel that the weight of those things got a little lighter (just a bit).