Dr Fauci reveals lack of Covid facts ‘likely did’ cost lives under Trump

Dr Anthony Fauci has opened up more about the impact of the Trump administration, stating that a lack of facts last year “likely did” cost lives amid the coronavirus pandemic.

When appearing on CNN on Friday, the nation’s leading infectious disease expert was asked if “lack of candour or facts” contributed to the high death toll in the country from Covid-19.

“You know it very likely did,” Dr Fauci said. “You know I don’t want that ... to be a sound bite, but I think if you just look at that, you can see that when you’re starting to go down paths that are not based on any science at all, that is not helpful at all, and particularly when you’re in a situation of almost being in a crisis with the number of cases and hospitalisations and deaths that we have."

“When you start talking about things that make no sense medically and no sense scientifically, that clearly is not helpful,” he added.

Dr Fauci, who serves as the director of National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, became a leading source on Covid-19 information for the American public last year when he joined the Trump administration’s White House coronavirus task force.

This appointment sometimes led to contention between himself and Donald Trump, though, given how the former president often would downplay the severity of the virus and promote untested treatments.

Now there was a new administration in the White House and a new national Covid-19 plan that included rebuilding public trust in the federal government and health agencies.

“The federal government should be the source of truth for the public to get clear, accessible, and scientifically accurate information about Covid-19,” Mr Biden said on Thursday. “We will be honest, transparent, and straightforward with the American people to rebuild trust.”

Dr Fauci was asked why it was important for Mr Biden to include the initiative to “rebuild” trust among the public in his national plan.

“There’s no secret. We’ve had a lot of divisiveness, we’ve had facts that were very, very clear that were questioned. People were not trusting what health officials were saying, there was great divisiveness, masks became a political issue," Dr Fauci said.

“So what the president was saying right from the get-go was, ‘Let’s reset this. Let everybody get on the same page, trust each other, let the science speak,'” he continued. 

On Thursday, Dr Fauci returned to the White House briefing room to speak to the press about the current coronavirus situation across the US. It was the first time the expert had been in the room since serving under Mr Trump, and he confessed there was a weight off of his shoulders to be advising a different administration.

"I can tell you, I take no pleasure at all in being in a situation of contradicting the President," Dr Fauci told reporters, speaking of his past contradictions with Mr Trump.

"The idea that you can get up here and talk about what you know, what the evidence, what the science is – let the science speak," he added. "It is somewhat of a liberating feeling."

The American public would likely see more of Dr Fauci in the coming months as the nation works to lower the number of Covid-19 hospitalisations and deaths.