Fauci slams Trump's comparison of COVID-19 and the flu

Dr. Anthony Fauci slammed Donald Trump‘s comparison of COVID-19 and the flu, stressing, ‘This is not a trivial disease’.

The government’s top infectious disease expert emphasized the severity of the virus as President Trump, who has COVID-19, downplayed its impact.

‘The potential for what COVID can do is very, very much different from influenza. You don’t get a pandemic that kills a million people, and it isn’t even over yet, with influenza,’ Fauci said in a Tuesday interview with ‘ Kate Snow.

‘So it is not correct to say it’s the same as flu. It has some overlapping symptomatology early on. But flu doesn’t do the things to you that COVID-19 can,’ he added.

Today there are more than seven million COVID-19 cases in the US and more than 210,000 deaths. Globally, there has been more than one million virus deaths.

Dr. Anthony Fauci slammed Donald Trump’s comparison of COVID-19 and the flu on Tuesday in an interview with NBC’s Kate Snow saying: ‘The potential for what COVID can do is very, very much different from influenza. You don’t get a pandemic that kills a million people, and it isn’t even over yet, with influenza’

‘So it is not correct to say it’s the same as flu. It has some overlapping symptomatology early on. But flu doesn’t do the things to you that COVID-19 can,’ Fauci added

Trump still has COVID-19 and was released from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on Monday after three days of treatment. On Monday he took off his face mask for a photo op from the White House

Trump announced last week he tested positive for coronavirus and was released from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on Monday after three days of treatment.

Upon his return Trump has downplayed the virus and compared it to the seasonal flu.

‘Flu season is coming up! Many people every year, sometimes over 100,000, and despite the Vaccine, die from the flu. Are we going to close down our Country? No, we have learned to live with it, just like we are learning to live with COVID, in most populations far less lethal!!’ he shared in post on Facebook and Twitter Tuesday.

But Facebook removed the post and Twitter added a label warning of misinformation about the coronavirus before a user could click to view it and prevented it from being shared.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an estimated 22,000 people died from the seasonal flu in 2019-2020, far less than Trump’s estimate of over 100,000.

For the 2018-19 flu season about 34,000 people died and in the 2017-18 flu season, there were 61,000 influenza-related deaths, as per the CDC.

After the social media platforms acted on his tweet, Trump tweeted ‘REPEAL SECTION 230!!!’

Trump, who still has coronavirus, shared a post Tuesday comparing COVID-19 and the flu and falsely claimed over 100,000 people die each year from the flu. Facebook removed the post and Twitter added a label warning of coronavirus misinformation before a user could click to view it and prevented it from being shared

Trump pictured giving a thumbs up as he walked out of Walter Reed Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland on Monday to return to the White House after being discharged

Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act allows online platforms to moderate and remove harmful content without being penalized.

Fauci was asked about Trump’s cavalier approach to the virus, where he has boasted about his apparent recovery from COVID-19 and held photo op at the White House where he took off his mask.

Fauci said: ‘I have a job to do, and my personally contradicting the president of the United States publicly is not a good thing if I want to get my job done.’

‘There are some things that should be universally practiced, and that is the universal wearing of masks, avoiding crowds, keeping a distance, doing things outdoors more than indoors and washing our hands frequently,’ Fauci said. 

Fauci was asked about Trump’s cavalier approach to the virus and said: ‘I have a job to do, and my personally contradicting the president of the United States publicly is not a good thing if I want to get my job done’

‘That doesn’t matter who you are. That’s what you should be doing,’ he added.

He noted: ‘This is not a trivial disease. People in the United States should realize that it is not a trivial disease.’

Trump has touted multiple times that a vaccine could be ready by election day. 

When asked when a vaccine could become available Fauci said it could come this year.

‘My projection is that is very likely that we will know by November or December of 2020 that we have a safe and effective vaccine,’ he said.

‘It is conceivable that we will know earlier like in October. I think that is unlikely but not impossible, my bet is that it’ll be by November or December,’ he added.