Fauci fends off Trump's attack amid rise in COVID-19 hospitalizations in US
Top US health expert Anthony Fauci has fended off another attack against the immunologist launched by US President Donald Trump.
In an interview with Southern California AM radio station KNX1070 on Monday, Fauci reacted to Trump's derogation of the expert, calling him an "idiot" and a "disaster".
On Monday, Trump said in Las Vegas that Americans were tired of "Fauci and all these idiots,” referring to health officials.
“People are saying: ‘Whatever. Just leave us alone’,” Trump claimed, adding, “Fauci is a disaster. If I listened to him, we’d have 500,000 deaths.”
In the radio interview after Trump's remarks, Fauci dismissed his comments as a "distraction", insisting that his focus was on the health and safety of America.
Fauci said he did not want to create a “me against the president” scenario, insisting that people's health was his top priority.
“[Addressing the virus is] the only thing I really care about. That other stuff, it’s like in 'The Godfather': Nothing personal, strictly business as far as I’m concerned. I just want to do my job and take care of the people of this country,” Fauci reiterated.
“I would prefer ... to protect the health and welfare and safety of the American people predominantly, and ultimately, of the world," he added.
Fauci warned,however, that there had been a recent surge in the number of COVID-19 cases at hospitals.
"We are seeing an uptick in cases — higher than they’ve ever been. Many, many states that had been doing reasonably well are now showing upticks," he said.
Fauci recommended following public health guides by wearing masks, social distancing, and hand hygiene as the best practices for keeping safe, warning that the world was not yet “on the road” to ending the pandemic.
“When you have a million deaths and over 30 million infections globally, you cannot say that we’re on the road to essentially getting out of this. So quite frankly, I don’t know where we are. It’s impossible to say,” he said in the interview that aired on Sunday.
Trump has intensified his repeated attacks on Fauci, making him a scapegoat for Trump's failure to manage the pandemic.
In the meantime, Coronavirus hospitalizations were growing in most US states indicating an increase in the pandemic’s severity.
Media reports indicated that COVID-19 hospitalizations were growing by 5% or more in 37 states as of Sunday.
US Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden blames Trump for mishandling the coronavirus crisis, saying his “lies and incompetence” had led to “one of the greatest losses” in the US history.
Biden criticized Trump for panicking in the face of crisis, describing Trump's behavior as “reckless.”
A study from Cornell University suggests Trump has been the world's biggest driver of misinformation about COVID-19 disease.
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