The Trump White House is throwing Dr Anthony Fauci, America’s top infectious disease specialist who has been leading the fight against the coronavirus pandemic, under the bus, blaming him among other things of false and erroneous projections that nearly tanked the US economy.
Tension between President Trump and Dr Fauci that has been simmering for several weeks now bubbled over this past weekend when the White House released statements detailing the number of times the iconic scientist, who has served six presidents, has been wrong about the pandemic since it surfaced early this year.
They also indicated Dr Fauci has lost Trump’s confidence, letting it be known that he no longer briefs the President or enjoys access to the Oval Office. It was also disclosed that his public appearances are controlled so that contradiction between the White House roadmap, which is primarily aimed at reviving the economy, and his outlook, which emphasizes getting the pandemic under control, are minimized.
According to NBC News, one of the media outlets that White House used to wield the hatchet against Dr Fauci, officials listed nearly a dozen past comments by him earlier in the pandemic that they said had ultimately proven erroneous. They range from his doubts about asymptomatic transmission, to advising people not to rush to wear masks, to suggesting the pandemic is not too serious and would recede, including advice in late-February that “at this moment, there is no need to change anything that you’re doing on a day-by-day basis.”
Dr Fauci’s supporters acknowledge some of those early mistakes, attributing them to a learning process about a pathogen that is still revealing itself with new twists and turns every week. Fauci himself has said his early advise on not rushing for masks came from concern that frontline healthcare workers would be denied if public began hoarding masks. Several leading health care experts and public intellectuals have defended Fauci, pointing to his long and distinguished service.
“The White House attacks on Dr. Fauci are unfair and dangerous. He’s been right on #COVID19 far more than the politicians who blame him. During pandemics, science is your guide-even if it’s politically inconvenient. Covid is surging. We need to hear more from scientists, not less,” said Vivek Murthy, the former surgeon general of the United States .
But the Trump base has long been gunning for Dr Fauci, plying all kinds of conspiracy theories, including accusing him of being in cahoots with forces trying to destroy the US economy. “#Fauci is a forked-tongued weasel. Look at this paper he wrote in April, admitting #CoronaVirus fatality rate is 0.1% rate ‘akin to severe seasonal influenza'” tweeted Shiva Ayyadurai, an MIT scientist who has long been pressing Trump to fire Fauci.
Trump himself has lately been publicly dismissive about Fauci saying, he “is a nice man, but he’s made a lot of mistakes,” even as the 79-year-old scientist and director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases is calmly going around issuing public service announcements in the limited media non-TV access the White House clears for him.
“As a country, when you compare us to other countries, I don’t think you can say we’re doing great. I mean, we’re just not,” he said in recent a podcast where he was implicitly critical of the Trump administration.
The virus meanwhile rages on with two sides expressing alarm or deriving comfort drawing on whatever data suits their belief. On Sunday, Florida recorded the largest one-day increase of any state since the pandemic began – 15299, casting a shadow on the late-August Republican Convention that was shifted to Jacksonville after Democrat-run North Carolina puts its foot down on mass gatherings. Republican governed Florida was one of the earliest states to ease restrictions after adopting them reluctantly.
At the other end of the spectrum, New York City, which imposed a tough shutdown, recorded its first 24-hours without a death from Covid-19.
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