RKMBs Forums .::Important::. Politics and Current Events Coronavirus outbreak in China, and global pandemic

One prominent article at RealClearPolitics argues that in January, Fauci told the public not to worry about the novel coronavirus and that “the administration’s initial reassurances were largely aligned with the assessments of the medical community,” specifically Fauci.

This is not true, and the contention rests on misrepresenting Fauci’s comments.

“On Jan. 21,” writes Kalev Leetaru, Fauci "emphasized that it was unclear whether the virus could spread from person to person.” This is the opposite of what Fauci said, according to the article linked. “While it's clear this new virus can be spread from person to person,” the piece paraphrases Fauci, “it's unclear how easily that spread can happen.”

Compare Fauci’s warnings and his uncertainty to what the administration was saying. Asked on CNBC on Jan. 22 whether there were "worries about a pandemic at this point,” President Trump responded, “No. Not at all. And we have it totally under control. It’s one person coming in from China, and we have it under control. It’s going to be just fine.”

Four days later, after his prudent (but clearly insufficient) China travel ban, Trump went on TV with Sean Hannity. Hannity asked Trump about coronavirus, “How concerned are you?”

Trump’s answer: “Well, we pretty much shut it down coming in from China.” This was false.

Throughout February, Trump would state confidently that things were getting better. “We’re going down, not up. We’re going very substantially down, not up.”

Or: “Looks like by April, you know, in theory, when it gets a little warmer, it miraculously goes away.”

Fauci consistently had a very different tone. “The ultimate scope and effect of this outbreak is unclear at present as the situation is rapidly evolving,” he wrote in that late-January journal article.