Biden says he'd trust Fauci on school reopening over Trump who wants to 'inject disinfectants' as Covid-19 cure
Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden on Wednesday, May 13, expressed his preference for the advice of Anthony Fauci, the US’ top infectious diseases expert and a member of President Donald Trump’s coronavirus task force, on the reopening of the economy in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic. Over 1.3 million people have been affected by the virus in the US so far with the death toll going beyond 84,000. The country is deeply divided over the idea of reopening in this situation even though Trump has been pushing for it desperately.
Fauci, who is the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, is not in agreement with a rushed reopening and on Tuesday, May 12, he said during a Senate hearing that a premature reopening could see “needless suffering and death”. 77-year-old Biden tweeted supporting the assessment made by Fauci, two years older than him. He also took an indirect dig at Trump in the post, ridiculing his infamous suggestions like injecting disinfectant into the human body as a possible cure for coronavirus or looking directly at solar eclipse.
“I would trust the guy who's one of our nation's top public health experts, not the one who pondered injecting disinfectant into the body and looked directly at a solar eclipse,” the former vice president said in his tweet.
Trump has had a number of occasions when he found himself at odds with Fauci’s viewpoints on the pandemic. On Wednesday, May 13, he slammed Fauci twice on the question of reopening American schools. In a meeting with governors, Trump told reporters that the virus has ‘very little impact on young people’. The president is of the opinion that the reopening of the US is not complete if the country’s schools are shut. He even accused Fauci of wanting ‘to play all sides of the equation’.
The commander-in-chief’s reaction came a day after Fauci remotely testified before the Senate HELP (Health, Education, Labor & Pensions) Committee that school officials were required to assess the ‘dynamics of the outbreak’ in their areas before reopening the educational bodies in the fall. He expressed a fear over children getting infected by the deadly virus. He spoke in reaction to Kentucky GOP Senator Rand Paul who didn’t consider Fauci’s advice to the final word on coronavirus and backed the idea of reopening of the schools by districts.
Trump also took a dig at Fauci in an interview with Fox Business earlier on Wednesday, May 13, saying he totally disagrees with him on schools. He called the veteran health expert a ‘good person’ but reiterated that he disagreed with him. He said he was surprised with Fauci’s concerns over opening businesses and schools prematurely. “I was surprised by his answer, actually, because, you know, it’s just to me it’s not an acceptable answer especially when it comes to schools,” Trump said when asked what he wanted to convey by saying Fauci is trying to play ‘all sides’. “The only thing that would be acceptable as I said is professors, teachers, etc., over a certain age, I think they ought to take it easy for another few weeks.”
Republican Party split over Trump and Fauci stands
Biden’s tweet came in attachment with a CNN report that the Republican Party is split over the clashing takes of Trump and Fauci over reopening the economy even though millions of people have lost their livelihoods in a span of a few weeks owing to the coronavirus lockdown. As against Paul who is backing Trump’s position, Louisiana Senator William Cassidy and his Alaska counterpart Lisa Murkowski are more in favor of backing more scientific opinions on the issue and favor the expert. All three are members of the HELP Committee.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell appeared to take both arguments into consideration. “I think we can do both,” he told CNN on Tuesday. “I think we need to move toward beginning to reopen the economy, consistent with the recommendations of the White House Coronavirus Task Force and, of course, the advice we've been given from the healthcare professionals.”
There have been a number of occasions where Trump’s differences with Fauci over opinions on coronavirus and its cure were evident. The two differed on the idea of hydroxychloroquine working as an effective drug for Covid-19 besides the timelines over reopening the country. The president was also seen once retweeting a hashtag seeking the expert's ouster.