President Donald Trump is pushing back against Dr. Anthony Fauci’s criticism of the United States’ handling of the coronavirus.
Trump appeared on Greta Van Susteren’s broadcast “Full Court Press” where he was asked about Fauci’s recent remarks insisting the United States’ progress is “really not good” where the coronavirus is concerned.
“Even Dr. Fauci is saying that we’re ‘knee-deep,’ and he’s saying that we’re not in a very good place or something to that effect,” Susteren said. “How do we reconcile the good news with the bad news?”
Despite the alarmingly high surge in infection rates, hospitalization, and ICUs reaching capacity, Trump disagreed with Fauci saying, “Well, I think we are in a good place. I disagree with him.”
Trump also noted that Fauci originally said that the general public does not need to wear masks, “Dr. Fauci said don’t wear masks, now he says wear them.”
The president went on to share an optimistic projection about the spread of the virus, “We’re going to be in two, three, four weeks, by the time we next speak, I think we’re going to be in very good shape.”
Trump noted that Florida and California “more than anyplace else” are areas of concern while “many other states are in very fine shape.”
See Trump’s remarks below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ml5Y_kKtZ-E
The president’s latest remarks come weeks after Fauci’s previous interview where he was asked why masks were not advised for the public at the beginning of the pandemic.
At the time, the top infectious disease expert admitted the personal protective equipment (PPE) shortage and prioritization of healthcare workers were the only reasons why masks were not previously enforced, as previously reported on IJR.
“Now we have masks. We know that you don’t need an N95 if you’re an ordinary person in the street. We also know that simple cloth coverings that many people have can work as well as a mask in many cases. So even though there appears to be some contradiction of ‘You were saying this then, why are you saying this now,’ actually, the circumstances have changed, that’s the reason why.”
Although Trump claims the United States is “in a good place,” statistics show the virus is continuing to spread. More than 40 out of 50 states are seeing significant rises in cases.
Data also signals that increased testing capacity is not the reason for the uptick in positive cases as it does not justify the higher percentage in infection rates.
For example, Miami-Dade County now has a positivity rate of nearly 20%. Even with expanded testing capacity, the positivity rate would not change unless the virus is spreading at a more rapid pace.
As of Wednesday morning, there are more than 3 million coronavirus cases in the United States.