Dr. Anthony Fauci is sharing an update on the coronavirus pandemic response and his current communications with President Donald Trump.
During an interview with Stat News, Fauci, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), recalled the White House Coronavirus Task Force meeting “every single day” during the shutdown. Now, he is admitting the task force meetings have not occurred as often.
“We used to have task force meetings every single day, including Saturday and Sunday, and about 75% of the time after the task force meeting we’d meet with the president,” Fauci said.
Fauci is revealing his meetings with the president have decreased substantially.
“So I was meeting with him four times a week back, a month or so ago. But as you probably noticed, that the task force meetings have not occurred as often lately,” Fauci said, adding, “And certainly, my meetings with the president have been dramatically decreased.”
Although Fauci’s meetings with Trump have decreased, his concern about public health has not. The nation’s top infectious disease expert is also expressing concern about the large gatherings that have taken place over the last several days.
Over the weekend, protests in at least 140 cities have broken out over the death of George Floyd. Like the series of events that have unfolded in Minneapolis, Minnesota, violence, rioting, looting, and fires have erupted in cities across the country, as previously reported on IJR. There have also been peaceful protests.
Fauci said:
“When I see a situation where there is a region, a state, a city, a county where there’s a considerable amount of viral activity there, and you see people crowding around bars — and there were several pictures of that, that was quite striking over the last couple of days — or on boardwalks, where they’re very, very close to each other, I do get concerned.”
Coronavirus cases are continuing to rise around the country. In fact, California saw its highest day of confirmed coronavirus cases on Saturday with over 3,000 new cases.
As of Monday morning, there are more than 1.8 million confirmed coronavirus cases in the United States and a death toll of 106,241.