US has the worst COVID-19 outbreak in the world, says virus expert
Virus expert says he can’t deny US outbreak is worse than any other, as Facebook censors Trump for false immunity claims.
The United States has the world’s worst coronavirus outbreak, its leading virus expert said, as President Trump was censored by Facebook for saying that children are “almost immune” to the disease.
Anthony Fauci, who has tangled with the president over his blunt assessments of America’s virus response, told CNN when asked if the US outbreak was worse than any other: “Yeah, it is quantitatively if you look at it, it is. I mean the numbers don’t lie.”
The US has more confirmed cases and deaths than any country, although President Trump attributes this to high levels of testing. The US fatality rate, at 471 deaths per million population, is lower than Italy, Spain and the UK, but slightly higher than France and Brazil.
Dr. Anthony Fauci said there's "a degree of anti-science feeling in this country," while speaking to CNN's @drsanjaygupta.
— CNN (@CNN) August 5, 2020
Fauci said he believes this feeling about science by some is "almost related to authority and a mistrust in authority." https://t.co/TdevR8xE8R pic.twitter.com/RjHsnyyenU
Cases up because of BIG Testing! Much of our Country is doing very well. Open the Schools!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 3, 2020
“Every country has suffered,” Dr Fauci said. “We, the United States, have suffered … as much or worse than anyone. When you look at the number of infections and the number of deaths, it really is quite concerning.”
Dr. Anthony Fauci said there's "a degree of anti-science feeling in this country," while speaking to CNN's @drsanjaygupta.
— CNN (@CNN) August 5, 2020
Fauci said he believes this feeling about science by some is "almost related to authority and a mistrust in authority." https://t.co/TdevR8xE8R pic.twitter.com/RjHsnyyenU
He said that the country could combat the virus more effectively without having to re-enter the stringent lockdowns of the initial stage of the pandemic. “We can do much better without locking down, and I think that strange binary approach – either you lock down or you let it all fly – there’s some place in the middle when we can open the economy and still avoid these kinds of surges that we’re seeing.”
President Trump was challenged by Facebook and Twitter for his claims about coronavirus. He told Fox News on Wednesday that children were almost immune” to coronavirus, and a clip was posted to his Facebook page. Facebook removed the post shortly afterwards. “This video includes false claims that a group of people is immune from COVID-19, which is a violation of our policies around harmful Covid misinformation,” it said.
It is the first time that Facebook has taken such a step against the president. The company had labelled some of his posts misleading but stopped short of the more direct penalties imposed by other social networks.
With the exception of New York & a few other locations, we’ve done MUCH better than most other Countries in dealing with the China Virus. Many of these countries are now having a major second wave. The Fake News is working overtime to make the USA (& me) look as bad as possible!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 3, 2020
The same clip was posted on Twitter by the Trump campaign’s account. Twitter added a notice that said the message violated its rules, and told the campaign to delete the post before it could tweet again.
Courtney Parella, from the Trump campaign, said that the measures were a “display of Silicon Valley’s flagrant bias against this president, where the rules are only enforced in one direction”. She added that Mr Trump was merely “stating a fact that children are less susceptible to the coronavirus”.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the main US public health body, has said that while adults make up most of the known coronavirus cases, some children have contracted the disease and they can pass it on to others.
In June Facebook removed adverts by the Trump campaign that featured a Nazi symbol for political prisoners, but it has never censored his own posts.
Mark Zuckerberg, the company’s co-founder and chief executive, has been criticised for being too permissive of the president, inspiring an advertising boycott by some leading companies.
In May Twitter accused the president of “glorifying violence” and concealed a tweet where he told protesters that “when the looting starts, the shooting starts”.
Amid the row Mr Trump signed an executive order that sought to limit legal protections for social media firms over what is posted on their platforms.
The president had a near-miss from the virus yesterday (Thursday) when the governor of Ohio tested positive hours before he was due to greet Mr Trump at an airport in Cleveland. Mike DeWine, 73, a Republican, was tested as part of a protocol for those who are about to come into contact with the president.
Mr DeWine does not have symptoms and will isolate at home for 14 days, his office said. Kevin Sitt, 47, an Oklahoma Republican, was the first governor known to have caught coronavirus.
THE TIMES
More Coverage
‘Anti-Christian bias’ to be tackled by new taskforce
US President Donald Trump has unveiled a taskforce to root out ‘anti-Christian bias’ in government.
Musk’s mass resignation hopes hit legal roadblock
Elon Musk’s mass redundancy scheme for federal workers has been put on hold by a judge hours before a deadline to quit.