Trump Has Decided Who He Won't Pick for FBI Director
Here's Pam Bondi's Stance on Illegal Immigration and Cartel Traffickers
CNN Legal Analyst Just Shredded Dems' Top Narrative Against Trump's AG Pick
Scott Presler to PA Dems Who Tried to Steal the Election: We're Coming...
Here's What Caused a Woman to Chop Up Her Father on Election Night
The Trump Counter-Revolution Is a Return to Sanity
What Was the Matt Gaetz Attorney General Pick Really About?
MTG to Chair a New DOGE Subcommittee
Tom Cotton Issues 'Friendly Reminder' to ICC After Arrest Warrants for Netanyahu, Gallant
'Obstructionist Transition': Biden Administration Is 'Loosening Immigration Policies' on t...
New Legislation Puts the Department of Education on the Chopping Block
Is It the End of the 'Big Media Era'?
A Political Mandate in Support of Pro-Second Amendment Policy
Here's Where MTG Will Fit Into the Trump Administration
Liberal Media Is Already Melting Down Over Pam Bondi
Tipsheet

Fauci Rejects CNN Doctor's Assessment of Trump Admin's Coronavirus Response

AP Photo/Andrew Harnik

South Korea announced its first coronavirus cases around the same time the U.S. did, back in January. Yet, two months later and the U.S. has 50 times more cases and almost 100 times more fatalities. CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta has suggested that that discrepancy is because the U.S. did not act quickly enough on its mitigation efforts. 

Advertisement

"I think that we acted late, Jake," he told CNN host Jake Tapper on Sunday's "State of the Union."

He added that we "did not test adequately," and it allowed the virus to circulate in communities across the country.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told Tapper that Gupta's assessment was "unfair.

"You know it isn't as simple as that, Jake, I'm sorry," Fauci responded.

It's unfair to compare us to South Korea, Fauci explained, because they were able to completely shut everything down, a move that the U.S. "may not have been able to do." There were several factors to consider.

"I don't think you can say we are where we are because of one factor," Fauci said. "It's very complicated, Jake."

Fauci, a White House coronavirus task force member, conceded that "obviously" if they had started the mitigation process and social distancing earlier, lives could have been spared. But, the doctor refused to get into hypotheticals. What goes into those kinds of decisions, he argued, is "complicated." 

Advertisement

"There was a lot of pushback about shutting things down back then," Fauci recalled.

Yet, Dr. Fauci expressed his cautious optimism that America could be turning the tide soon, as the rate of hospializations are beginning to level in hotspots like New York City. Once we get the capability to test in real time, he noted, we can begin a "gradual, rolling reentry" to normal life.

Join the conversation as a VIP Member

Recommended

Trending on Townhall Videos

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement