It has been a while since President Donald Trump has met with the coronavirus task force, according to Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health.
Host of NPR’s “Morning Edition” Steve Inskeep noted it seems the coronavirus task force is much less public than before and less visible than it was.
He asked Collins if Trump is still listening to health experts.
“The task force continues to meet regularly, at least once a week, and to wrestle with a whole lot of the issues, especially now that we see the worsening of the pandemic in the middle of the country, which is really quite a serious concern,” Collins said.
He added, “The vice president presides over all of those task force meetings and is incredibly engaged with all of these questions and deliberations and decisions that have to be made. We have not met with the president in quite some time.”
Inskeep asked Collins if it is a matter of concern.
“I think the president primarily is getting his information from the vice president, from Dr. Atlas,” Collins said.
Listen to the interview below:
He acknowledged it is a “chaotic” time with the upcoming presidential election.
Collins explained Trump and the task force members do not have the same direct connection as they did months ago.
Inskeeep argued while Trump and Dr. Anthony Fauci might have agreed on some things, there have been “clashing” messages.
“I would just urge people listening to our conversation right now, trust the public health experts. They don’t really have an axe to grind. Trust CDC, trust Fauci, trust the folks at the FDA who are trying to do their jobs,” Collins said.
He continued, “They don’t have any particular reason to spin the information. They’re going to try to do their best to share with you what we know and what we don’t know. So, yeah, consider the source. If you’re trying to get public health information it’s probably good to listen to a public health expert.”