Dr. Anthony Fauci said the next two weeks are critical to contain the increase.
7 min read
Despite contradiction by the nation’s top public health officials, President Donald Trump continues to insist that the new coronavirus “is on the right track,” while continuing to pressure states to reopen their economies and scale up their campaign. re-election.
Despite the government’s top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci warned lawmakers on Tuesday of the need to continue or increase injunctions to contain what he called a “disturbing increase,” Trump, speaking at a Mega church in the hot spot The state of Arizona, packed with supporters who were not wearing masks, dismissed COVID-19’s concerns.
“It is going,” Trump said, calling the coronavirus “the plague” and repeating that the increase in US cases. USA It could be attributed to an increase in testing.
Speaking to hundreds of “Students for Trump” activists, the president also repeated the racist term “kung flu” that he had used most recently at his weekend rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and marked more nicknames, including ” Wuhan “and” Chinese “. applause virus.
“I could give you nineteen or twenty names for that, right? Wuhan was getting it. Coronavirus, right? Kung’s Flu. COVID-19. COVID. I said, ‘What is nineteen?’ Some people can’t explain what nineteen is in COVID-19. That’s a strange name. I can give it many, many names, “Trump said.
Trump will likely face more questions about his comments when he holds a press conference at the White House on Wednesday afternoon.
Just hours before Trump spoke on Tuesday, Fauci warned lawmakers about the “disturbing increase” in cases in critical states, naming the one Trump was visiting and saying “the next two weeks will be critical” to see if the increase can be contained.
“Right now, the next two weeks will be critical to our ability to address those surgeries that we are seeing in Florida, Texas, Arizona and other states,” said Fauci.
Fauci and three other top officials in the nation tapped to end the pandemic, still warning of the virus threat, revealing that they no longer seemed to have the president’s ear.
They all said that more than two weeks had passed since they spoke to President Trump, although they said they were still in contact with Vice President Mike Pence.
Admiral Brett Giroir, a senior health and human services official in charge of the tests, told the committee at the end of the hearing: “I am very cautious and I still do not sleep well at night because we have a long way to go.”
As the US coronavirus case count. USA And with the number of deaths increasing in areas across the country, Trump is likely to address the disconnect between his top health officials’ council and his campaign perrogations at a press conference Wednesday afternoon with the Polish president.
Trump at Tuesday’s rally also criticized protesters who downed monuments and continued to push conspiracy theories in states that promote voting by mail due to the pandemic, saying: “This will be, in my opinion, the most corrupt election in the history of our country. “
“Our country did not grow very well with them. It grew very well with you and your thought process and your ideology. The left-wing mafia is trying to demolish our heritage, so that they can replace it with a new oppressive regime that only they control.”
At a rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, over the weekend, Trump told supporters that he urged his staff to slow down the speed of testing. His aides suggested he was only joking, but Trump later said, “I’m not joking.”
ABC News’ Will Steakin contributed to this report.
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