Dr Anthony Fauci (R) reacts to a statement by Donald Trump at a White House briefing on Coronavirus, March 20, 2020
Dr Anthony Fauci, the White House’s top expert on infectious diseases, warns against Donald Trump’s campaign rally scheduled for June 20 in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Fauci noted the risk of either “acquiring or spreading” Coronavirus from those attending the event. Urging anyone in the audience to wear a mask, he said, “I have not specifically spoken to [Trump] about that, but the principles that I have been espousing hold true.”
The US death toll from the virus is now 114,669, with about 800 fatalities on Friday. Confirmed cases have reached 2,048,986.
Although the national daily rate of deaths is gradually decreasing, cases are resurging in 21 states — in part, because of quick lifting of restrictions in line with Trump’s demands.
See TrumpWatch, Day 1,238: Bleak US Economic Outlook as Coronavirus Rises in 21 States
On Friday, Texas, which borders Oklahoma, and North Carolina reported their highest hospitalisation rates since the pandemic began. Other spikes are in Arizona and Florida, both with Trump-supporting Governors eager to support his “reopen America” slogan defying medical advice.
Rattled by polls showing him falling behind Democratic Presidential nominee Joe Biden, Trump announced the rally last week, with no social-distancing measures. He has also pushed the Republican National Committee to move the summer convention from North Carolina, which insisted on social distancing, to Jacksonville, Florida.
Fauci noted the signal that “maybe we need to slow down a little” on reopening: “When you start seeing more hospitalizations, that’s a sure-fire sign that you’re in a situation where you’re going in the wrong direction.”
Texas Governor Greg Abbott, a staunch Trump ally, dismissed any concern “because we have so many hospital beds available to anybody who gets ill”.
Fauci and the other White House medical advisors have been effectively sidelined because of their pushback of Trump’s demands for a quick reopening. White House briefings were ended last month after Trump’s recommendation of ingestion of disinfectant as a possible cure. Trump did not follow through on a threat to abolish the White House Coronavirus Task Force, but it has not been visible for weeks.
He also spoke of the need for precautions at Black Lives Matter marches across the US, following the May 25 murder of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police.
You’re having crowds, and we recommend not to go in crowds. Physical distancing is impossible. When people get animated, they get involved in the demonstration, they start chanting and shouting and screaming, very often they take their mask off.
Trump Changes Rally Date After Criticism
In a rare retreat, Trump changed the date of the Tulsa rally from June 19 to Saturday, June 20.
Critics noted that June 19, celebrated as “Juneteenth”, is the 155th anniversary of the 1865 formal emancipation of slaves after the US Civil War.
They have also explained that Tulsa is the site of one of the largest massacres of African Americans in US history. In 1921, up to 300 people were killed in the Greenwood district.
Trump has made no comment on his choice of the site of the mass killing. On Friday, he tweeted that he was shifting the date, not because of protests but because of requests from his “many African American friends and supporters”.
