Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has been heralded as an authoritative perspective on the ever-evolving coronavirus pandemic. On Thursday, he shared a controversial view on what’s being done to curb the virus.
In a Thursday interview with CNN anchor Anderson Cooper, Fauci spoke on what would be needed to mitigate the virus nationwide. As of Friday, more than 6,500 people have died from the disease in America, nearly 260,000 have been diagnosed across the country.
Cooper posed the question as to why there would be various state mandates for staying at home rather than issuing a federal order for quarantine.
Cooper asked Dr. Fauci, "Knowing the science, does it make sense to you that some states are still not issuing stay at home orders?"
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Carefully choosing his words, stating he would rather not getting into the political challenges, Fauci responded:
"The tension between federally mandated versus states rights to do what they want is something I don't want to get into. But if you look at what's going on in this country, I just don't understand why we're not doing that. We really should be."
As the exchange went on, a map was projected behind Cooper, showing a map of which U.S. states have yet to issue such orders. The states include Alabama, Arkansas, Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming.
Fauci, even before the American death toll reached a staggering rate, has been very vocal about the need for citizens to social distance, even if that meant businesses across the country would have to close down for weeks. The economic impact has brought much ire to the longtime medical expert, with conservative supporters taking to social media to blame Fauci for his advisement.
The 79-year-old was approved for enhanced personal security after the Justice Department received a request from the Health and Human Services Department for extra agents due to death threats, officials said, according to The New York Times.
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