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Donald Trump attacks his top Covid-19 expert Anthony Fauci, squabbles with others
The number of people left jobless by the eight-week long lockdown forced by the outbreak has now risen to 36.5 million.
Three million more Americans filed for unemployment benefits, according to new data released Thursday as in his eagerness to arrest and reverse the economic downturn President Donald Trump has publicly squabbled with his top medical official’s assessment of the battle against the Covid-19 epidemic.
The number of people left jobless by the eight-week long lockdown forced by the outbreak has now risen to 36.5 million.
President Trump has been eager to end the lockdown to arrest the economic downturn and has sought to project a more optimistic view of the outbreak than experts and officials of his own task force, who have said the country is not out of the woods yet. He lashed out Anthony Fauci, the most vocal of these experts, accusing him of trying to “play all sides of the equation”.
Trump’s ire was directed this time at Fauci’s testimony before at a us senate hearing Tuesday in which he, and other top public health officials, had offered a far less optimistic assessment of the state of the epidemic in the United States than the one repeatedly offered by the president in his eagerness to reopen the economy and lift restrictions on public life.
Trump also attacked Rick Bright, a public health official who was sidelined for questioning he administration’s response and the president’s personal backing for the antimalarial hydroxychloroquine, Thursday ahead of a congressional hearing. Bright said early signs of the epidemic were missed and without proper planning and implementation of steps laid down by experts, “2020 will be darkest winter in modern history”
In the past 24 hours, 1,763 people died of Covid-19 taking the US toll to 84,144 and the number of reported infections went up to 1.39 million with 21,030 new cases.
“He wants to play all sides of the equation,” Trump told reporters when asked about Fauci’s testimony in which he had urged caution in reopening the economy, as he has consistently.
Asked to explain what he meant, Trump said, “I was surprised -- I was surprised by his answer, actually, because, you know, it’s just -- to me, it’s not an acceptable answer, especially when it comes to schools.”
Fauci had urged caution in reopening the economy and country and warned against rushing it into it, which he had said, could lead to “little spikes that might turn into outbreaks.” Both he and Robert Redfield, head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), had also argued the United States is not out of the woods yet.
President Trump has been eager to reopen the economy and has been at odds with Fauci and other members of the task force he set up to spearhead his administration’s response to the epidemic, who have consistently urged caution.
Until now, however, the president had refrained from publicly acknowledging these differences and expressed complete respect for faith in his experts. Bu he is said to have been privately fuming with Fauci, who does not shrink from publicly disagreeing with the president.
But as the president kept his peace, until now, allies and supporters went after Fauci, accusing him of trying to impose his will on the president and the administration. Fox News anchors have led the charge questioning his credentials.
