- Dr. Fauci said he is “absolutely not” surprised that Donald Trump contracted the novel coronavirus.
- During an interview with 60 Minutes, Fauci also made other surprising statements — like admitting that the White House has restricted his ability to appear before the media.
- With coronavirus cases peaking, Fauci believes people may have to start wearing masks even inside their homes at times.
During a wide-ranging interview on 60 Minutes yesterday, Dr. Anthony Fauci made a number of startling revelations with respect to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. In fact, Fauci’s appearance on the program in and of itself was something of a pleasant surprise in light of the fact that the Trump administration has been actively trying to curtail his public appearances as of late. That said, Fauci, per usual, was honest and forthright when answering questions about Trump, the coronavirus pandemic, and much more.
One of the more interesting tidbits from Fauci centered on Trump contracting the coronavirus earlier this month. Not mincing words in the slightest, Fauci said he wasn’t at all surprised about Trump’s positive diagnosis. Trump, of course, has since recovered from the virus, but only after receiving a cocktail of expensive and experimental antibody drugs that are not yet available to the public.
“I was worried that he was going to get sick when I saw him in a completely precarious situation of crowded [people],” Fauci said. “No separation between people, and almost nobody wearing a mask. When I saw that on TV, I said, ‘Oh my goodness. Nothing good can come outta that, that’s gotta be a problem.’ And then sure enough, it turned out to be a superspreader event.”
With respect to the upcoming Presidential election, Fauci made a point of noting that he has never, nor will he ever, endorse a particular candidate. While such a statement might seem wholly obvious, recall that a quote from Fauci was recently used in a campaign ad for Trump. What’s more, Fauci was upset that his words were taken completely out of context.
“I do not and nor will I ever publicly endorse any political candidate,” Fauci said. “And here I am, they’re sticking me right in the middle of a campaign ad which I thought was outrageous. I was referring to something entirely different. I was referring to the grueling work of the task force that, ‘God, we were knocking ourselves out seven days a week. I don’t think we could have possibly have done any more than that.'”
As portrayed in the campaign ad, it appears that Fauci is praising Trump by saying, “I can’t imagine that anybody could be doing more.” The Trump campaign refused to take down the ad. What’s more, Fauci’s objection to the ad prompted Trump to call him a ‘Democrat’ at a campaign rally last week.
“Then you have my friend, and he’s a nice guy, Tony – Tony Fauci,” Trump said a few days ago. “He’s a nice guy, so I keep him around. Right? We’ll keep him around. But he’s a Democrat, everybody knows that.”
As to when the pandemic might end, Fauci reiterated his previous comments indicating that the coronavirus will likely remain an ongoing concern until 2022.
“I believe that by the time we get to the end of 2021,” Fauci said in September, “if everyone gets vaccinated and we continue to implement the public-health measures that I have been talking about incessantly over the last several months — they’re not universally adhered to — if we do that, plus the vaccine, we’ll get to the point where the level of the virus will be so low, and maybe even, you know, close to absent.”
Another interesting answer from Fauci centered on his inability to appear before the media as much as he’d like. When asked if the White House has been limiting his appearances, Fauci responded: “I think you’d have to be honest and say yes. I certainly have not been allowed to go on many, many, many shows that have asked for me.”
Fauci’s full interview with 60 Minutes can be viewed below:
