Trump ‘counters’ Fauci by introducing new coronavirus advisor

Donald Trump has enlisted a new coronavirus task force advisor following tensions between the president and doctor Anthony Fauci, as the coronavirus pandemic continues to surge throughout the US.

Scott Atlas, a healthcare policy expert at the conservative Hoover Institution at Stanford University, was announced on Monday as a new addition to the White House’s coronavirus team

“Scott is a very famous man who’s also very highly respected,” Mr Trump said in a press conference on Monday.

“He’s working with us and will be working with us on the coronavirus. And he has many great ideas. And he thinks what we’ve done is really good, and now we’ll take it to a new level.”

Although Dr Atlas’ official role was announced on Monday, he has reportedly been counselling Mr Trump informally for weeks after the president spotted him on Fox News, according to a report by The Times.

The White House has not said whether Dr Atlas is being paid to undertake his role on the task force.

The appointment comes as Mr Trump’s relationship with a number of the current members of the task force continues to break down, namely Dr Fauci and Dr Deborah Birx.

The president has regularly criticised the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases on a number of occasions over the last few months, saying that “has made a lot of mistakes” and is a “little bit of an alarmist”.

Dr Fauci has contradicted Mr Trump on a number of occasions on issues regarding the pandemic including testing and the severity of the pandemic across the country.

The White House also attempted to discredit Dr Fauci last month by saying that “several White House officials are concerned about the number of times Dr Fauci has been wrong on things.”

More recently, Mr Trump has aimed his disapproval at Dr Birx, calling her “pathetic” after she said in an interview that coronavirus had become “extraordinarily widespread” at the beginning of August.

Mr Trump’s criticism of Dr Birx marks the first time he’s publicly attacked the doctor.

Rush Limbaugh, a talk show host to who was awarded the presidential medal of freedom by Mr Trump, praised Dr Atlas because he was “countering Fauci,” according to The Times report.

Dr Atlas has frequently expressed views in line with Mr Trump’s regarding the reopening of schools amidst the pandemic, which has become a major feature of the US’ ongoing debate about re-opening the country.

“Of course, we can [reopen schools.] Everyone else in the world and the western world, our peer nations are doing it. We are the outlier here,” Dr Atlas told Fox News last month.

“There are virtually zero risks to children of getting something serious or dying from this disease,” he claimed.

Over 380,000 children have tested positive for Covid-19 since the onset of the pandemic, according to a report by American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children’s Hospital Association.

Teachers also fear they will be put at high risk if in-person schooling reopens too soon and without appropriate safety measures to prevent the spread of the virus.

Last month, the president of the largest US teachers union “double-dog dared” Mr Trump to sit in one of their classrooms during the pandemic when schools reopen.

“We’re talking about second graders. I had 39 sixth graders one year in my class. I double-dog dare Donald Trump to sit in a class of 39 sixth graders and breathe that air without any preparation for how we’re going to bring our kids back safely,” National Education Association (NEA) President Lily Eskelsen García told CNN.

Mr Trump has persistently called for the reopening of schools this fall, condemning the Centre for Disease Control’s guidelines for re-opening as “tough” and “expensive” and previously threatening to cut federal funding if districts ignore his demands to reopen.

Dr Fauci reiterated his concerns about the virus’s spread yesterday. “Bottom line is, I’m not pleased with how things are going,” he reportedly said during a National Geographic panel.

The US set a new record this week for the number of coronavirus cases as the number of infections surpassed five million, which equates to one out of every 66 residents infected with the disease, according to an analysis by Reuters.