White House COVID-19 cases could have been prevented, says Fauci

The United States top infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci on October 6 said that the latest streak of infections in the White House could have been prevented. Fauci, who is leading the fight against COVID-19 in the United States, told the American University's Kennedy Political Union in an interview that the virus is not a hoax, it is real, take a look at what happened at the White House this week. It's an unfortunate situation when you see something like that because that could have been prevented," Fauci said.

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'It's not a hoax'

Fauci was answering a question on how to advise people who believe that the virus is a hoax, to which he said one needs to rationale with them and ask them to take a look at the statistics. Fauci said that so far there are 7.3 million cases and 2,10,000 Americans have died from the disease, that is a reality. He further added that not every country in the world is lying, pointing out to the global tally of more than 35 million cases and over 1 million deaths. Fauci said that one should take a look at what happened at the White House. 

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US President Donald Trump and his wife Melania announced on October 2 that they have tested positive for COVID-19. After that, several Republican leaders reported testing positive, including some of the closest aides of Donald Trump. The President spent three days at Walter Reed military hospital before being discharged on Monday. Trump left the hospital wearing a mask, but he took it off while posing for a picture and told Americans that it is like just another "flu". 

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There have been several instances in the past when Fauci and Trump have publicly disagreed with one another over how go on with handling the disease. While Fauci backed the shutdown of the entire country to prevent the spread of the virus, US President Donald Trump instigated Americans to defy lockdowns in Democratic-run states and asked people to continue with their normal lives in order to keep the economy going. Fauci, during the interview, said that every state in the country will have to go in the same direction in order to defeat the pandemic. 

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