Dr. Anthony Fauci said Friday that there have been, and continue to be, “some disagreements” between him and the White House on information getting out to the public on the coronavirus pandemic.
Mr. Fauci, one of the nation’s top experts on infectious diseases, said he disagreed with President Trump’s recent assertion that the United States is turning the corner on dealing the virus.
“I have to disagree with that, because if you look at… the statistics they are very disturbing,” Mr. Fauci said on MSNBC. “We’re plateauing at around 40,000 cases a day. And the deaths are around a thousand.”
To date, there have been 6,397,547 cases of COVID-19 in the United States and 191,802 deaths, according to data compiled by John Hopkins University.
The president’s optimistic comments came Thursday, as he was also pushing back on accusations that he lied to the American public about how dangerous the coronavirus could be in the early months.
Journalist Bob Woodward released excerpts from his new book “Rage,” and audio recordings of Mr. Trump saying he wanted to downplay the seriousness of the virus in February and March to avoid “a panic.”
The administration and Trump campaign have been a touting rapid timeline for a vaccine to get the country back on its feet, even suggesting one might be possible before the November 3rd election.
Mr. Fauci has cautioned that it will take much longer than that for a vaccine, and even longer for everything to start getting back to normal.
“If you’re talking about getting back to a degree of normality, which resembles where we were prior to COVID, it’s gonna be well into 2021. Maybe even towards the end of 2021,” he said.
• Gabriella Muñoz can be reached at gmunoz@washingtontimes.com.
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