Fauci says U.S. political divisions contributed to 500,000 dead from COVID-19

By Julie Steenhuysen

 

FILE PHOTO: NIH National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci addresses the daily press briefing at the White House in Washington, U.S. January 21, 2021. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/File Photo

 

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert, said political divisiveness contributed significantly to the "stunning" U.S. COVID-19 death toll, which on Monday surpassed 500,000 lives lost.

 

The country had recorded more than 28 million COVID-19 cases and 500,054 fatalities as of Monday afternoon, according to a Reuters tally of public health data.

 

In an interview with Reuters, Fauci on Monday said the pandemic arrived in the United States as the country was riven by political divisions in which wearing a mask became a political statement rather than a public health measure.

 

"Even under the best of circumstances, this would have been a very serious problem," Fauci said, noting that despite strong adherence to public health measures, countries such as Germany and the UK struggled with the virus.

 

"However, that does not explain how a rich and sophisticated country can have the most percentage of deaths and be the hardest-hit country in the world," said Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and a top adviser to President Joe Biden. "That I believe should not have happened."

 

While the United States has just about 4% of the global population, it has recorded nearly 20% of all COVID-19 deaths.

 

"This is the worst thing that's happened to this country with regard to the health of the nation in over 100 years," Fauci said, adding that decades from now, people will be talking about "that horrible year of 2020, and maybe 2021."

 

For most of 2020, Fauci served on then President Donald Trump's White House Coronavirus Task Force, a job that often put him at odds with the president, who sought to downplay the severity of pandemic despite contracting COVID-19 himself, and refused to issue a national mask mandate.

 

Trump at times even attacked Fauci's credibility, undermining his public health messaging.

 

The nation's failure cannot all be laid at the feet of Donald Trump, Fauci said. "But the lack of involvement at the very top of the leadership in trying to do everything that was science-based was clearly detrimental to the effort."

 

His personal low point came when several states and cities disregarded the Task Force's phased recommendations for how to safely reopen the country after spring lockdowns.

 

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert, said political divisiveness contributed significantly to the "stunning" U.S. COVID-19 death toll, which on Monday surpassed 500,000 lives lost.

 

He called that disregard by several governors and mayors "incomprehensible to me (when) you could see right in front of your eyes what was happening."

 

"When the American spirit is so divided, that really, really made me sad," he said.

 

Fauci said the emergence of more contagious variants of the coronavirus, especially ones from South Africa and Brazil that have been shown to reduce the immunity from natural infections and vaccines, have made it challenging to predict when the nation will be able to put the pandemic behind it.

 

Fauci and Biden have said the United States should return to something approaching pre-pandemic normal life around Christmas. That could change, he cautioned.

 

The variants also change the equation when it comes to herd immunity, in which a population becomes protected from infection because of high levels of immunity from vaccines or infections.

 

Asked whether that is still achievable, Fauci said, "I think we can get herd immunity at least against getting sick."

 

(Reporting by Julie Steenhuysen and Michael Erman in Maplewood, New Jersey; Editing by Bill Berkrot)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2021-02-23

 

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3 minutes ago, webfact said:

The nation's failure cannot all be laid at the feet of Donald Trump, Fauci said. "But the lack of involvement at the very top of the leadership in trying to do everything that was science-based was clearly detrimental to the effort."

maga

And he would be completely correct.

Trump has the blood of thousands (if not hundreds of thousands) on his hands.

Two posts with unsourced and unsubstantiated claims has been removed.

 

imo, the general lack of intellect there and in other countries is the main cause. In this age of the internet, if you can't educate yourself you have a bigger problem than covid..

1 minute ago, from the home of CC said:

In this age of the internet, if you can't educate yourself you have a bigger problem than covid..

Q!

That is a very polite and diplomatic way of saying Trump failed dismally, when the nation really needed him, and politics were his primary calculus. His presidency was a stunning failure. And the world suffered due to his inadequacy. 

We saw it clearly demonstrated on this forum, Trump supporters and right wingers in full denial over the virus and the means to fight it.

 

I can only think of one rightwing member who accepted and argued the case for the danger the virus posed and in favor of public health measures, including the wearing of masks.

 

The rest were frequently posting misinformation, playing down the virus and arguing against masks, lockdowns and isolations.

 

 

Pointing at Trump, without also pointing at the CDC itself, is a whitewash. There was plenty of incompetence during this debacle. At the Federal and the State levels. Let's see if we have learning anything going forward...

https://www.politifact.com/article/2020/dec/16/lie-year-coronavirus-downplay-and-denial/

 

Lie of the Year: Coronavirus downplay and denial

...

"Lies infected America in 2020. The very worst were not just damaging, but deadly.

 

President Donald J. Trump fueled confusion and conspiracies from the earliest days of the coronavirus pandemic. He embraced theories that COVID-19 accounted for only a small fraction of the thousands upon thousands of deaths. He undermined public health guidance for wearing masks and cast Dr. Anthony Fauci as an unreliable flip-flopper. 

...

It was a symphony of counter narrative, and Trump was the conductor, if not the composer. The message: The threat to your health was overhyped to hurt the political fortunes of the president."

...

PolitiFact’s 2020 Lie of the Year: claims that deny, downplay or disinform about COVID-19."

6 hours ago, webfact said:

The nation's failure cannot all be laid at the feet of Donald Trump, Fauci said. "But the lack of involvement at the very top of the leadership in trying to do everything that was science-based was clearly detrimental to the effort."

not all of it,  but mostly like 99.99%.... the loser kept saying the virus was oax, it would be gone by Easter, or by summer but if one would inject himself/herself with bleach or get expose to a very strong blue light the virus would disappear ... what a "smart" leader   555

“We have it totally under control. It’s one person coming in from China, and we have it under control. It’s going to be just fine.”

— President Trump, in an interview with CNBC, was asked about the first diagnosed U.S. case. He said he wasn’t worried about a pandemic.

 

13 minutes ago, timendres said:

Pointing at Trump, without also pointing at the CDC itself, is a whitewash. There was plenty of incompetence during this debacle. At the Federal and the State levels. Let's see if we have learning anything going forward...

 

The bottom line is trump, remember this quote?

 

“I don't take responsibility at all,”

 

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/03/13/trump-coronavirus-testing-128971

and so many more

 

“Looks like by April, you know, in theory, when it gets a little warmer, it miraculously goes away. I hope that’s true. But we’re doing great in our country. China, I spoke with President Xi, and they’re working very, very hard. And I think it’s going to all work out fine.”

— Trump, at a campaign rally in Manchester, N.H.

 

“Now the Democrats are politicizing the coronavirus. … One of my people came up to me and said, ‘Mr. President, they tried to beat you on Russia, Russia, Russia.’ That didn’t work out too well. They couldn’t do it. They tried the impeachment hoax. That was on a perfect conversation. They tried anything, they tried it over and over. … And this is their new hoax.”

— Trump, at a campaign rally in North Charleston, S.C.

25 minutes ago, timendres said:

Pointing at Trump, without also pointing at the CDC itself, is a whitewash. There was plenty of incompetence during this debacle. At the Federal and the State levels. Let's see if we have learning anything going forward...

 

Trump and his minions, including Trump appointed CDC director Redfield, RAN the CDC during his administration, with political appointees interfering with and blocking the guidance of professional/career experts.  The mess that the CDC became during Trump's administration is largely due to Trump and his ilk.

 

US health agencies in disarray

The CDC and the FDA have lost public trust and the respect of scientists due to bad decisions and political meddling during the pandemic...

 

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0262407920319023?dgcid=rss_sd_all

 

 

Inside the Fall of the CDC

How the world’s greatest public health organization was brought to its knees by a virus, the president and the capitulation of its own leaders, causing damage that could last much longer than the coronavirus.

 

https://www.propublica.org/article/inside-the-fall-of-the-cdc

 

‘Absolute Clusterf–k’: Inside the Denial and Dysfunction of Trump’s Coronavirus Task Force

Missed warnings, conflicting messages, and broken promises — how the White House fumbled its response to the worst pandemic in a century

 

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/trump-coronavirus-covid-white-house-testing-kushner-cdc-dysfunction-red-dawn-982308/

 

 

 

6 hours ago, johnnybangkok said:

And he would be completely correct.

Trump has the blood of thousands (if not hundreds of thousands) on his hands.

He should be tried as an accessory to murder. 

46 minutes ago, timendres said:

Pointing at Trump, without also pointing at the CDC itself, is a whitewash. There was plenty of incompetence during this debacle. At the Federal and the State levels. Let's see if we have learning anything going forward...

But this thread is about making a partisan issue out of such practices as wearing a mask thanks to the examples Trump set.

1 hour ago, Chomper Higgot said:

We saw it clearly demonstrated on this forum, Trump supporters and right wingers in full denial over the virus and the means to fight it.

 

I can only think of one rightwing member who accepted and argued the case for the danger the virus posed and in favor of public health measures, including the wearing of masks.

 

The rest were frequently posting misinformation, playing down the virus and arguing against masks, lockdowns and isolations.

 

 

I remember them going full steam with a barrage of posts! "It's like a flu"; "It's just Dems and MSM creating panic", "more people die from flu"; "experts! Which experts?", "death numbers are inflated", etc

I want to take back everything I said about the politicization of the mask issue. But I don't think I can:

North Dakota House passes bill forbidding mandatory mask wearing

The bill’s sponsor, state Rep. Jeff Hoverson (R), called mask mandates “diabolical silliness,” characterizing them as a conspiracy run by “unelected, wealthy bureaucrats who are robbing our freedoms and perpetuating lies,” the Herald reported.

The number of COVID-19 cases declined after Burgum's mask mandate. The Herald also notes that health experts have attributed the drop to a combination of factors, including restrictions on businesses and increased social distancing.

https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/539993-north-dakota-house-passes-bill-forbidding-mandatory-mask-wearing

A post making unsourced and unsubstantiated claims has been removed.

 

2 hours ago, candide said:

I remember them going full steam with a barrage of posts! "It's like a flu"; "It's just Dems and MSM creating panic", "more people die from flu"; "experts! Which experts?", "death numbers are inflated", etc

Of course, a few months later, the same posters claimed that it was not only Trump who underestimated the accuteness of the pandemic, but also the Dems and MSM.

What about pointing fingers, no arms, at the CCP, the commies and specially at their dear leader Xi ? Fauchi is an outdatet puppet.

5 hours ago, timendres said:

Pointing at Trump, without also pointing at the CDC itself, is a whitewash.

Pointing at Trump IS pointing at the CDC, since Trump had placed a number of his stooges at the CDC and was dictating the lies that the CDC was disseminating.

38 minutes ago, Deli said:

What about pointing fingers, no arms, at the CCP, the commies and specially at their dear leader Xi ? Fauchi is an outdatet puppet.

It's the commies' fault that Trump supporters are so disinclined to wear masks? It may come as a shock to you but most likely you have 2 hands so those index fingers can point to more than one perp.

13 hours ago, webfact said:

Fauci says U.S. political divisions contributed to 500,000 dead from COVID-19

yes, as trump didn't believe wearing mask would prevent anyone from catching covid-19, his zealots heard his message

2 hours ago, Deli said:

What about pointing fingers, no arms, at the CCP, the commies and specially at their dear leader Xi ? Fauchi is an outdatet puppet.

The American RESPONSE was the American response. No foreign country controlled that. 

8 hours ago, Chomper Higgot said:

We saw it clearly demonstrated on this forum, Trump supporters and right wingers in full denial over the virus and the means to fight it.

I can only think of one rightwing member who accepted and argued the case for the danger the virus posed and in favor of public health measures, including the wearing of masks.

The rest were frequently posting misinformation, playing down the virus and arguing against masks, lockdowns and isolations.

 

This is an example of why I say the "T___p thing" stopped being politics after he was inaugurated and became a personality cult (arguably it was even before the election).  The proof of it is he could say ANYTHING (and has!) and his followers will accept it, agree with it, and defend it.  And they still do.  If he was more adept at Christian scripture the cult would be a full-on religion by now.   But with preachers claiming from the pulpit that the election was stolen and that DT was anointed by god, this mess is still getting uglier.

 

https://www.npr.org/2021/02/21/969539514/disinformation-fuels-a-white-evangelical-movement-it-led-1-virginia-pastor-to-qu

 

https://www.npr.org/sections/insurrection-at-the-capitol/2021/01/13/955801878/how-did-we-get-here-a-call-for-an-evangelical-reckoning-on-trump

 

 

8 hours ago, Anant72 said:

He should be tried as an accessory to murder. 

 

Willful neglect. 

Anticipating civil suits galore from the bereaved.

 

9 minutes ago, bendejo said:

 

Willful neglect. 

Anticipating civil suits galore from the bereaved.

 

I doubt he has legal exposure for policies (more like LACK of policies) that he led while president. 

10 hours ago, timendres said:

Pointing at Trump, without also pointing at the CDC itself, is a whitewash. There was plenty of incompetence during this debacle. At the Federal and the State levels. Let's see if we have learning anything going forward...

Sir with all due respect trump got more Americans killed than 2 world wars and 2 horrific non world wars (Korea Vietnam)not to mention Iraq and Afghanistan thrown in  trump ruined anyone’s career who disagreed with his utterly bunk bs handeling of the pandemic all for his gain no excuses none nada zip trump has killed more Americans in 1 year than  our enemies did in 100years it’s truly staggering to fully understand how badly trump blew it the very definition of catastrophe but what terrifying is people still support him 

4 hours ago, Jingthing said:

I doubt he has legal exposure for policies (more like LACK of policies) that he led while president. 

 

I think Jingthing is correctly referring to "sovereign immunity."  I am not going to open that can of worms by trying to explain it.  But, if it does interest you, that's how to get more info about it.