- President Donald Trump called the leading infectious disease expert in the United States, Dr. Anthony Fauci, “a little alarmist” in his response to coronavirus outbreaks in the United States.
- Fauci, who also serves on the White House coronavirus task force, said the development of the coronavirus pandemic has become his “worst nightmare.”
- Trump said Fauci, like other public health experts, including CDC Director Robert Redfield, has “made some mistakes” amid the pandemic.
- As coronavirus cases rise to record levels in the US, Trump said he believes it is due to increased testing in the country and that “many of those cases are young people who would heal in one day.”
- While the average ages of confirmed cases are decreasing as young people begin to account for a higher percentage of infections, they still have the potential to become severe cases and the ability to pass the infection on to others.
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President Donald Trump called infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci “a little alarmist” after his crude assessment of coronavirus outbreaks in the United States.
Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and also serves on the White House coronavirus task force, said the development of the coronavirus pandemic has become his “worst nightmare.”
Trump, on the other hand, rejected Fauci’s assessment of the coronavirus pandemic during an interview on “Fox News Sunday.”
After the White House claimed he was not trying to diminish Fauci’s credibility as an expert, Dan Scavino, one of the president’s top aides, shared a cartoon taunting Fauci and describing him as a tap who is “leaking” information to journalists. and drowning the economy of the United States.
Trump apparently agreed with the message in the illustration, telling Fox News presenter Chris Wallace that “he’s a bit of an alarmist.” The president reiterated that the health expert “made some mistakes,” including his initial recommendation that people should not wear masks at the start of the pandemic.
Fauci is now an avid mask bearer and urges Americans to do the same. He later explained that the reasoning behind his previous suggestion was to avoid panic buying of N-95 surgical masks to reserve their use for medical professionals on the front line of the virus.
Hospital staff treating coronavirus patients reported in April that they were facing a shortage due to lack of supply in the national reserve, and some resorted to reusing their masks as they treated hundreds of patients per day.
Documents from the Department of Health and Human Services obtained by NBC News last week said that hospitals are likely to fall back into a similar situation of EPP shortages as cases are increasing once again in the US. since the beginning of the pandemic.
During the Fox News Sunday interview, the president again insisted that the increases in new coronavirus cases were due to increased evidence in the country.
“The cases are over because we have the best evidence in the world,” Trump said. “No country has done what we have done in terms of testing. We are the envy of the world.”
He added that “many of those cases should not even be cases,” since “many of those cases are young people who would heal in one day.”
“They have the cold and we put it as evidence,” Trump continued. “And in many cases, they are going to improve very quickly.”
While the average ages of confirmed cases are decreasing as young people begin to account for a higher percentage of infections, they still have the potential to become serious cases and the ability to infect others.
