Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on April 29, 2020.
Mandel Ngan | AFP | fake pictures
White House adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci said he was not invited to President Donald Trump’s press conference on Tuesday about the coronavirus pandemic, the president’s first public meeting on the outbreak in months.
“I was not invited until now and I suppose I will not be there,” Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said in a CNN interview less than an hour before 5pm. The briefing was scheduled to begin.
Trump and other administration officials have criticized Fauci’s advice on the pandemic in recent weeks, widening an apparent rift between the White House and its top infectious disease adviser, who is a key member of the U.S. coronavirus special force. White House.
In a scathing opinion piece published last Tuesday, Trump’s business adviser, Peter Navarro, criticized Fauci, saying that “he’s been wrong about everything I’ve interacted with.” Similarly, during an interview earlier this month with Fox News’s Sean Hannity, Trump said: “Dr. Fauci is a good man, but he has made many mistakes.”
“They have been wrong about many things, including facial masks,” Trump said. “Maybe they are wrong, maybe not. Many of them said not to wear a mask, not to wear a mask. Now they are saying to wear a mask. Many mistakes were made, many mistakes were made.” “
Even with the recent criticism, Fauci told “The Atlantic” magazine in a recent interview that he tries to avoid politics and has not thought of resigning.
“I think the problem is too important for me to get into those kinds of thoughts and discussions,” he said, according to an edited transcript of the interview. “I just want to do my job. I’m really good at it. I think I can contribute. And I’m going to keep doing it.”
During the CNN interview, Fauci said that if he were to attend the meeting on Tuesday, he would tell state leaders to adopt mask mandates and encourage them to close bars.
“Outside is better than inside, particularly if you’re going to have restaurants … Wash your hands. It’s really not rocket science,” he said.
He said the United States can still beat the coronavirus, which continues to spread rapidly throughout the country. The virus has infected more than 3.8 million Americans and has killed at least 141,118 as of Tuesday, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
The pandemic response “is not as uniform as we would like,” he said. “We know we need to do that.”
.
