From a New York Times interview by David Wallace-Wells headlined “Rochelle Walensky on the Rocky Road to Normal”:

Dr. Rochelle Walensky became the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention at what was both the darkest period of the pandemic and a moment of remarkable optimism. In early 2021, several thousand Americans were dying each day in Covid’s first, brutal winter surge. But vaccines were already being delivered, faster than in nearly any other country, and the inauguration of Joe Biden, who had campaigned in part on Donald Trump’s mishandling of the pandemic, promised a science-forward public-health reset.