‘It is just infuriating’: Rhode Island doctor responds to White House attacks on Fauci
“He has never done anything that has not been guided by both science and by public interest, which is more than I can say for those who are criticizing him.”
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A Rhode Island doctor responded Sunday to attacks by the White House and President Donald Trump on the nation’s top infectious disease expert and member of the government’s coronavirus task force Dr. Anthony Fauci.
“I am almost speechless,” Dr. Megan Ranney, an emergency room physician and director of the Brown Lifespan Center for Digital Health, told CNN in an interview.
Fauci on Friday issued blunt warnings about a surge in coronavirus cases this winter in an interview with the Washington Post, telling the newspaper that the United States needs to immediately change its public health behaviors and practices.
“We’re in for a whole lot of hurt,” Fauci told the publication. “It’s not a good situation. All the stars are aligned in the wrong place as you go into the fall and winter season, with people congregating at home indoors. You could not possibly be positioned more poorly.”
In response, a White House spokesperson condemned Fauci, accusing the physician of criticizing the president and looping the infectious disease expert as part of “the Swamp.” During a campaign rally Sunday in Florida — held in opposition to local coronavirus regulations, Trump suggested he would fire Fauci after the election as his supporters chanted, “Fire Fauci!”
On Saturday, the United States reported almost 100,000 new COVID-19 cases — the greatest single-day increase in cases of the virus in the country since the pandemic began.
During her Sunday appearance on CNN, Ranney defended Fauci and denounced the attacks being deployed against him.
“Dr. Fauci has been an active member of administrations going back to the time of Reagan,” Ranney said during her Sunday appearance on CNN. “He is one of our country’s most well-respected, well-published, and truly non-partisan scientists. His only goal as he has been standing up there next to Trump for the past 7 months has been to try to keep the American people safe and to inject some accuracy and some evidence into our government’s response to this pandemic.”
“To see them slam Fauci like this, especially coming on top of [Trump senior advisor Jared] Kushner’s words about taking back the pandemic response from the doctors that we heard last week, it is just infuriating,” Ranney said. “And I hope that the American public don’t listen. I hope they continue to trust Fauci, because he has never done anything that has not been guided by both science and by public interest, which is more than I can say for those who are criticizing him.”
“I hope the American public don’t listen. I hope they continue to trust Fauci because he’s never done anything that’s not guided by science and public interest, which is more than I can say for those criticizing him.” @meganranney on WH official calling Fauci part of the swamp. pic.twitter.com/BbIVr8Ty91
— Ana Cabrera (@AnaCabrera) November 1, 2020
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