A Senate committee held hearings on Wednesday featuring Dr. Anthony Fauci, who headed up America’s COVID response, only to see him plead his 5th Amendment right against self-incrimination 111 times. Fauci avoided answering challenging questions about pressuring states to shut down schools and businesses, his department’s alleged funding of harmful “gain of function” research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, and squelching debate about the “lab leak” hypothesis, even though his newly revealed diary shows the scientists he consulted found the idea likely.National Public Radio freelance science reporter Ari Daniel’s Thursday takeaway from Fauci’s embarrassing non-performance? “Anthony Fauci hearing could lead to ‘chilling effect’ for public health.” (Is the phrase “chilling effect” the last resort of a liberal on the wrong side of an argument?)….the renewed attacks on Fauci, once the nation's leading infectious disease expert, have caused Democrats, health workers and researchers to worry that these events may further erode public health staffing and infrastructure in the U.S.Daniel’s points conveniently parallel that of a partisan Democrat and Fauci defender from the hearing. "These firings and these cuts — they're creating a chilling effect, honestly," Andy Kim, D-N.J., said at the hearing, while also thanking Fauci and decrying what he called the demonization of public servants. "A chilling effect for the next generation of people who might consider stepping up to serve our nation, to be the next generation of researchers who now are wondering whether or not this is the right thing for them to do at a time when they see some of their colleagues, or those that they looked up to, being attacked."Other public health professionals agree that what played out on Capitol Hill earlier this week is part of a larger corrosion of the field to which they've dedicated their lives, endangering its future and undermining health outcomes in the U.S."I thought that we were healing as a country around COVID-19," says epidemiologist Katelyn Jetelina. "I think what yesterday did was open some really deep wounds."Jetelina, a dedicated masker, is also a favorite guest on the PBS News Hour.….in her view, such attacks on the man who once helped lead the federal COVID-19 response, combined with a hollowing out of agencies like the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, add up to a broader assault on the people and programs that keep Americans healthy.Yes, the woman who regularly appears on national television of her own accord, to be the recipient of friendly publicity, is apparently scared to put her neck out.Jetelina believes that the current environment is forcing individuals to make difficult decisions about what to do professionally, especially in light of what happened to Fauci this week. "If you see someone like this — a public servant for the past 50 years — be just completely vilified," she says, "it makes me wonder about the next emergency. Like, do I want to raise my hand and put my neck out there?"There's no time to waste, says Benjamin, since questioning the legitimacy of science "makes us less healthy as a nation," more vulnerable to current pathogens and future pandemics, and interferes with the essential objective of the field — treating and healing communities.Got it? Oppose having your childrens’ schools shut down, your businesses bankrupted, funerals and church services outlawed, and you’re “questioning the legitimacy of science.”NPR also has a sordid history of dismissing “lab leak” claims favored by conservatives, showing utter contempt and suggesting believers are rejecting science (of course, Fauci considers himself the very embodiment of science). Never mind the Chinese Communist government entity called the Wuhan Institute of Virology, which studied bat coronaviruses and is located at the Ground Zero of the COVID pandemic. Surely pure coincidence.There was actually some detectable progress from NPR: The previous day’s story on the hearing itself was a bit more respectful of the “lab leak” theory than earlier NPR stories: “One thing is certain: Six years after the start of the pandemic, there is still debate.” There certainly wasn’t debate before at NPR, which issued this particularly arrogant/ignorant NPR tweet in December 2020: “A new poll finds 40% of respondents believe in a baseless conspiracy theory that the coronavirus was created in a lab in China. There is zero evidence for this. Scientists say the virus was transmitted to humans from another species.” The headline to the accompanying story by NPR’s Joel Rose: “Even If It's 'Bonkers,' Poll Finds Many Believe QAnon And Other Conspiracy Theories.”