Dr. Anthony Fauci shut down the media’s latest anti-Trump reports during a radio interview Tuesday after many bashed the president’s attempts to re-open the country sooner rather than later.
Media pundits and publications slammed Trump for trying to re-awaken the American economy, reporting that he was going against the advice of many health experts. Fauci, an immunologist and the chief medical advisor to the coronavirus task force, dumped cold water on this latest anti-Trump narrative during an interview on WMAL’s “Mornings on the Mall” with Mary Walter and Vince Coglianese.
“Obviously, this is something that’s under very intense discussion,” Fauci said when asked about the 15 day social isolation idea pushed by Trump. “What the president is trying to do is to balance the public health issues with the fact that this is having an enormous impact on the economy of the country, which may actually indirectly even cause a considerable amount of harm and difficultly, even health wise.”
“So, it’s a delicate balancing act, which the president is trying to get it right, and we’re under very intense discussions right now about what the most appropriate timeline is and if we do modify it, how we modify it.”
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Fauci’s Tuesday comments came after Trump told reporters Monday evening that “our country wasn’t built to be shut down.” He added that “America will again and soon be open for business” and reiterated his belief that the “cure” – social distancing – can’t be worse than the disease.
Politico reported that “Trump pushed back against health experts” after his Monday evening comments about ending strict social distancing guidelines. The article added that many of Trump’s own health experts “have warned that it will be a matter of months before it will be safe to reopen the country again.”
“He even claimed, without evidence, that the economic downturn caused by continuing the social distancing recommendation could result in more deaths ‘than anything we are talking about with respect to the virus,'” Politico wrote.
Vox repeated this narrative, claiming the president “is ignoring his top health advisers over 2020 election fears.” Vox even touted Fauci in an attempt to prove that Trump’s idea is detrimental to America. (RELATED: ‘Idiots’: Sen. Kennedy Tears Into Democrats For Blocking Coronavirus Stimulus Bill In Fiery Speech)
“Worse, most experts, like Dr. Anthony Fauci, Trump’s most-prominent expert on his coronavirus task force, warn that the pandemic will get worse before it gets better,” according to Vox. “Experts fear that talk of encouraging people to get back to their normal routines quickly could hamper efforts to slow the pandemic — or even encourage its spread.”
These articles came after Fauci first admitted that it is reasonable to consider long-term economic effects of shutting down the country during an interview with Science Mag March 22. Fauci pushed for Americans to adhere to social distancing but added that no one can say whether it’s a mistake to refuse to issue national orders regarding shutdowns.
To me, the most interesting thing in this interview with Dr. Fauci is that he does not think it’s at all unreasonable to consider the longterm economic harm of indefinite shutdowns. https://t.co/xldDCfC9eX pic.twitter.com/lOWdWFlFqL
— Robby Soave (@robbysoave) March 23, 2020
“There is a discussion and a delicate balance about what’s the overall impact of shutting everything down completely for an indefinite period of time,” Fauci said. “So, there’s a compromise. If you knock down the economy completely and disrupt infrastructure, you may be causing health issues, unintended consequences, for people who need to be able to get to places and can’t. You do the best you can.”
