Dr. Anthony Fauci tells Late Late Show he and Trump have a ‘good relationship’ despite known tensions

The US’s leading infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, has said he has a “good relationship” with President Donald Trump despite some tensions between the couple since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. .

Speaking to RTÉ One’s Late Late Show, Dr. Fauci admitted that there have been highly publicized issues that he and Trump disagree on, but added that “as a personal relationship it is not a bad relationship at all, it is a good one. relationship”.

“There has been some tension there because I have had to say things from a scientific and public health point of view that do not agree with what the president was saying,” he said.

The tensions between the disease expert and the president of the United States have been evident since the early days of the pandemic.

In May, Trump said Dr. Fauci’s calls for a very cautious lifting of the Covid-19 restrictions were “unacceptable.”

A day earlier, Dr. Fauci had testified in Congress that ending the lockdown too quickly could have “really serious” consequences.

Trump responded and accused Fauci of wanting to “play all sides of the equation.”

Trump and Fauci had publicly disagreed before this, including over the effectiveness of certain drugs that have been tried to treat the virus.

He has also complained to aides and confidants about Fauci’s positive media attention and his willingness to contradict the president.

When asked by host Ryan Tubridy last night if he found Trump’s tweets about him “frustrating,” Dr. Fauci said, “You know, it’s all up for grabs, so to speak, I don’t take those things personally.

“You just have to tell the truth, be guided by science, and be driven and guided by data and scientific evidence. [If] there is conflict with people, you just don’t take it personally. ”

Dr. Fauci went on to note that in many parts of the world, including the United States, “adherence to public health measures has almost become a political statement.”

“There are public health officials, like me, who keep saying to wear masks, to physically distance yourself, to avoid crowds, as if that is somehow an affront to some people, that we are either invading their individual rights or we are not sensitive to the impact this has on the economy, none of which is true, ”he said.

“What we have to do is make people realize that the enemy is the virus. The enemy is not the public health people who are trying to contain the virus, ”added Dr. Fauci.

“We all want to get the economy back, but as I keep saying, the best way to get the economy back is to get the virus under control.”

On Wednesday, the United States was reported to have surpassed 200,000 deaths from Covid-19, a figure that Dr. Fauci called last night “very, very sobering.”