In an interview to be aired on ABC Tuesday night titled “American Catastrophe: How Did We Get Here?,” Dr. Anthony Fauci casts doubt on the accounts of the coronavirus impact and response being given by the Trump Administration, particularly regarding supplies and tests.
“We keep hearing when we go to these task force meetings that these [issues] are being corrected,” Fauci said. “But yet when you go into the trenches, you still hear about that.”
Fauci has been attacked in the past few weeks by administration officials who feel his trust factor with the American population undermines President Trump, whom only one-third of Americans feel is giving trustworthy information on the coronavirus.
Saying that he “cannot explain” and has no “good answer” for the discrepancies, Fauci noted that a number of these issues are out of his scope of responsibilities, but he did note that a number of the shortages are because “many of the things that we needed were not produced in the United States.”
During a briefing last Thursday, Trump claimed that the US had more than sufficient supplies of tests and PPE. “Remember I used to say the cupboards were bare?” Trump said. “Well, now the cupboards are the opposite,” declaring the nation to be “very strong on supplies.”
Fauci said asymptomatic patients “a real serious problem. They need to be concerned because even though they themselves may not get any serious outcome, they are part of the propagation of the pandemic.”
Fauci acknowledged that the CDC and the US government made a number of missteps early in the pandemic, including trying to develop its own tests. The US also was handcuffed by a lack of information coming out of China.