Sen. Rand Paul, himself a physician, offered a second opinion Monday on Dr. Anthony Fauci’s praise for New York’s novel coronavirus response.
The Kentucky Republican pointed to Johns Hopkins University data showing that New York, which saw COVID-19 cases peak in April, still leads the nation in deaths with 32,147, or 165 per 100,000 people, far more than the 4,804 deaths in Florida, or 22 per 100,000, and 3,889 in Texas, or 13 per 100,000.
“Paging Dr. Fauci! According to JHU, NY’s per capita death rate is more than 2X greater than Italy Spain & Britain & more than 8X worse than Florida & 10X worse than Texas,” tweeted Mr. Paul. “For you to say NY got it done correctly disregards the facts & calls your judgement into question.”
Dr. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told PBS NewsHour in a Thursday interview that “when you do it properly, you bring down those cases. We’ve done it. We’ve done it in New York.”
“New York got hit worse than any place in the world. And they did it correctly by doing the things that you’re talking about,” said Dr. Fauci, part of the White House coronavirus team.
Paging Dr. Fauci! According to JHU, NY’s per capita death rate is more than 2X greater than Italy Spain & Britain & more than 8X worse than Florida & 10X worse than Texas. For you to say NY got it done correctly disregards the facts & calls your judgement into question.
— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) July 20, 2020
Dr. Anthony Fauci to @JudyWoodruff on rising coronavirus cases in the U.S.:
— PBS NewsHour (@NewsHour) July 17, 2020
“We’ve got to do the things that are very clear that we need to do to turn this around. … We know that when you do it properly, you bring down those cases. We’ve done it, we’ve done it in New York.” pic.twitter.com/yV7ibfxsWQ
Media attention in recent weeks has focused on the rising number of cases in Arizona, California, Florida and Texas, all of which have also increased testing, even though New York’s death toll is still highest in the nation and second per capita only to that of New Jersey, with 177 deaths per 100,000.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo was chastised last week after taking what CNN’s Jake Tapper called a coronavirus “victory tour,” touting his state’s response to COVID-19 on NBC’s “The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon” and promoting a “New York Tough” poster, which is available on the governor’s website.
“There are no illustrations, however, of the more than 32,000 dead New Yorkers, the highest death toll by far of any state,” said Mr. Tapper. “No rendering on that poster of criticism that Gov. Cuomo ignored warnings, no depiction of the study that he could have saved thousands of lives had he and Mayor [Bill] De Blasio acted sooner, no painting there on the poster of his since-rescinded order that nursing homes take all infected patients in.”
The Democrat Cuomo clapped back Thursday by telling CNN that Mr. Tapper was guilty of a “misconstruction,” adding, “What we’re saying is that New Yorkers did step up and did flatten the curve. That is a fact.”
An ophthalmologist, Mr. Paul announced he was diagnosed with COVID-19 in March. After recovering, he volunteered at the TriStar Greenview Regional Hospital in Bowling Green, Kentucky, which included treating coronavirus patients.
• Valerie Richardson can be reached at vrichardson@washingtontimes.com.
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