Reuters, Washington :
President Donald Trump on Monday took a swipe at health experts in his government leading the US response to the coronavirus, and one of them, Dr Anthony Fauci, answered with an appeal for states to stick to guidelines to snuff out a surge in cases.
The Republican president, seeking re-election in November, has been increasingly critical of government health officials and their guidance as a steady rise in infections threatens the easing of shutdown restrictions across the country.
Trump retweeted to his 83 million followers the accusations of a former game show host that “everyone is lying,” including the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). “The most outrageous lies are the ones about Covid 19. Everyone is lying. The CDC, Media, Democrats, our Doctors, not all but most, that we are told to trust,” Chuck Woolery wrote Sunday night without citing evidence. Last week, Trump said he thought CDC guidelines for schools reopening were too tough, impractical and expensive. On Monday, Trump also retweeted an April post from Woolery’s podcast co-host that Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, wants to require “an ID card to go shopping.” As the spread of the coronavirus accelerated months ago, Fauci said it was possible the United States could in the future issue a certification of immunity.
The White House did not respond to questions on whether the president believed the CDC was lying.
Trump told reporters later at the White House: “I have a very good relationship with Dr. Fauci.” “I find him to be a very nice person. I don’t always agree with him,” Trump said.
Fauci on Monday ascribed the surge in coronavirus cases to the country’s failure to shut down completely, then a rush to reopen too soon, and urged a commitment to guidelines to rub out the disease.
“All you needed to do was look at the films on TV of people in some states who went from shutdown to complete throwing caution to the wind – bars that were crowded, people without masks,” Fauci said during a Stanford University event.
Fauci said he was confident the United States would get a handle on the virus “if we step back. You don’t necessarily need to shut down again, but pull back a bit, and then proceed in a very prudent way of observing the guidelines, of going from step to step.” Tensions with Fauci have risen with the decline of Trump’s popularity in the polls over the president’s handling of the outbreak. Fauci said in a Financial Times interview last week he had not briefed Trump in two months.
President Donald Trump on Monday took a swipe at health experts in his government leading the US response to the coronavirus, and one of them, Dr Anthony Fauci, answered with an appeal for states to stick to guidelines to snuff out a surge in cases.
The Republican president, seeking re-election in November, has been increasingly critical of government health officials and their guidance as a steady rise in infections threatens the easing of shutdown restrictions across the country.
Trump retweeted to his 83 million followers the accusations of a former game show host that “everyone is lying,” including the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). “The most outrageous lies are the ones about Covid 19. Everyone is lying. The CDC, Media, Democrats, our Doctors, not all but most, that we are told to trust,” Chuck Woolery wrote Sunday night without citing evidence. Last week, Trump said he thought CDC guidelines for schools reopening were too tough, impractical and expensive. On Monday, Trump also retweeted an April post from Woolery’s podcast co-host that Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, wants to require “an ID card to go shopping.” As the spread of the coronavirus accelerated months ago, Fauci said it was possible the United States could in the future issue a certification of immunity.
The White House did not respond to questions on whether the president believed the CDC was lying.
Trump told reporters later at the White House: “I have a very good relationship with Dr. Fauci.” “I find him to be a very nice person. I don’t always agree with him,” Trump said.
Fauci on Monday ascribed the surge in coronavirus cases to the country’s failure to shut down completely, then a rush to reopen too soon, and urged a commitment to guidelines to rub out the disease.
“All you needed to do was look at the films on TV of people in some states who went from shutdown to complete throwing caution to the wind – bars that were crowded, people without masks,” Fauci said during a Stanford University event.
Fauci said he was confident the United States would get a handle on the virus “if we step back. You don’t necessarily need to shut down again, but pull back a bit, and then proceed in a very prudent way of observing the guidelines, of going from step to step.” Tensions with Fauci have risen with the decline of Trump’s popularity in the polls over the president’s handling of the outbreak. Fauci said in a Financial Times interview last week he had not briefed Trump in two months.
