Donald Trump and Dr. Anthony Fauci haven’t seen eye-to-eye regarding America's response to COVID-19.
Now it appears the two have once again disagreed on whether schools should resume in the fall. CNN reports that Trump expressed more frustration toward the leading infectious diseases expert on Wednesday. “I was surprised by his answer, actually,” Trump said when asked about Dr. Fauci’s televised congressional testimony from Tuesday, where he cautioned against opening schools and businesses too soon.
“It's just—to me it's not an acceptable answer, especially when it comes to schools,” Trump added.
Trump later toldFox News, “So [Dr.] Anthony [Fauci] is a good person, a very good person—I've disagreed with him,” Trump said. “We have to get the schools open, we have to get our country open, we have to open our country. Now, we want to do it safely, but we also want to do it as quickly as possible, we can't keep going on like this … You're having bedlam already in the streets, you can't do this. We have to get it open. I totally disagree with him on schools.”
During the congressional testimony, Dr. Fauci said a vaccine likely wouldn’t be available to students wanting to return to campuses in the fall. He advised that some schools may reopen with vigilance, while others should remain closed—and added that states could see more outbreaks if they ease social distancing and stay-at-home orders before meeting the Trump administration’s criteria.
“If this were a situation where you had a vaccine, that would really be the end of the issue in a positive way,” Dr. Fauci said. “But as I mentioned in my opening remarks, even at the top speed we’re going, we don’t see a vaccine playing in the ability of individuals to get back to school this term.”
Regardless, Trump has vowed that schools will reopen in the fall, even as educational establishments have disagreed. “We're opening our country. People want it open. The schools are going to be open,” Trump said on Wednesday.
Trump and Dr. Fauci’s relationship has seemed combative, as it appears the doctor often publicly contradicts the President. Last month, Trump even retweeted a message demanding that Dr. Fauci be fired, though Trump later said that he wasn’t seeking his dismissal.
