White House health advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci claims that US coronavirus data is "disturbing," opposing President Donald Trump's claim.
“I really do believe we’re rounding the corner,” said President Donald Trump during a White House news briefing. He noted that the new weekly Covid-19 cases have fallen by 44% since July.
When MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell asked Dr. Fauci about Trump's statement on US coronavirus data, the health expert said he does not agree with him.
“I’m sorry, but I have to disagree with that because if you look at the thing that you just mentioned, the statistics, Andrea, they’re disturbing,” said Dr. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. “We’re plateauing at around 40,000 cases a day and the deaths are around 1,000," he noted.
Daily new Covid-19 cases in the US have dropped significantly since new national cases reached a peak in late July, when the country recorded nearly 70,000 new cases in a day, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
Over the past seven days, the country has presented an average of about 35,200 new infections per day, down more than 12% compared with a week ago, according to a CNBC analysis of Johns Hopkins data.
However, recent data reporting is believed to have been influenced by the Labor Day holiday weekend, which closed down some local health departments and clinical laboratories.
The number of daily new Covid-19 cases remains far lower than the peak, but the level of new cases remains troublesome, Dr. Fauci said.
“When you have a baseline of infections that are 40,000 per day and you have threats of increased test positivity in certain regions of the country, such as the Dakotas and Montana and places like that. ... You don’t want to start off already with a baseline that’s so high,” he noted.
He stressed that the issues are being worsened by the approaching fall and winter seasons, which will likely encourage people to stay indoors where the virus can be transmitted more easily.
Dr. Fauci explained that the US will be in a “more precarious situation” in the fall and winter and if the country still reports the current level of new infections every day, it will place the US at “a disadvantage right from the very beginning.”
Coronavirus facts
Dr. Fauci said he would never be “muzzled” when discussing facts about the coronavirus.
His statement comes after a report claims that a Trump administration official is trying to “muzzle” him.
“I would never be muzzled about anything when it comes to science and evidence and the facts,” Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told Fox News.
Earlier Wednesday, a report published by Politico stated that Paul Alexander, an official at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), is preventing Dr. Fauci from discussing the risks that Covid-19 poses to children. Alexander, an official appointed by the Trump administration, allegedly told press officers and other staff about what Dr. Fauci must present during media interviews, according to emails obtained by Politico.
