Rep. Andy Biggs accused Drs. Anthony Fauci and Deborah Birx of working to destroy society as the White House Coronavirus Task Force members gave a rare update on the pandemic Thursday.
Mr. Biggs, Arizona Republican, criticized the doctors on social media while they participated in a televised press briefing held by the White House Coronavirus Task Force, its first in several months.
“Seeing Fauci & Birx at the White House podium yet again brings back months of memories of their work to destroy American freedom and our society as we knew it,” Mr. Biggs said on Twitter.
“They must be removed from any influence they enjoy. And their work over this year must be reversed & freedom restored,” Mr. Biggs tweeted about the infectious disease specialists.
Mr. Biggs railed against the doctors while the briefing happened and members of the task force, led by Vice President Pence, who also spoke, updated reporters together for the first time since July.
People should wear masks and practice other public safety measures, such as social distancing, to mitigate the pandemic in the months until a vaccine is available, the task force members stressed.
Recent surges in new cases of COVID-19, the contagious respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus, contributed to the pandemic’s nationwide death toll hitting 250,000 this week.
States have accordingly considered imposing new travel and business restrictions, similar to ones previously in place earlier during the pandemic, as well as measures such as mandating masks in public.
Mr. Biggs, who claimed Wednesday that face masks will not “save” localities from COVID-19 despite medical experts stressing they be worn, applauded his state deciding against such measures.
In separate Twitter posts Thursday, Mr. Biggs said that “statewide mandates are not the end-all-be-all in other states” and described a newly announced stay-at-home order in California as “tyranny.”
The congressman’s office noted his extremely vocal opposition to Dr. Fauci’s and Dr. Birx’s “predictions and oppressive prescriptions” when asked by The Washington Times to elaborate on his concerns.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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