America's top infectious diseases expert and sidelined White House Covid-19 taskforce member Dr Anthony Fauci said that he was "absolutely not" surprised when US President Donald Trump tested positive for the Covid-19 virus.
When asked “Were you surprised that President Trump got sick?”, Dr Fauci told CBS News that he was worried after seeing Trump surrounded by several people not wearing a mask and flouting best public health practices against the novel coronavirus pandemic.
During an interview, Dr Fauci said, "I was worried that he was going to get sick when I saw him in a completely precarious situation of crowded -- no separation between people, and almost nobody wearing a mask."
“When I saw that on TV, I said, Oh my goodness. Nothing good can come outta that, that's gotta be a problem. And then sure enough, it turned out to be a superspreader event,” Dr Fauci said.
Dr Fauci was referring to the White House Rose Garden function that took place on 26 September where the US President announced Judge Amy Coney Barrett was his pick to replace Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the Supreme Court. Around 12 have tested positive for coronavirus after attending the ceremony.
Several photos and videos of the event, which are there online, shows few of them wearing masks, while most of the people greeted each other with hugs and handshakes. The function was held outdoors and many attendees were tested before being allowed to enter.
There were also smaller, private gatherings inside the White House that did not include the mask-wearing or social distancing that public health experts have advised is essential to stopping the spread of the virus, CNN reported.
During the interview with the CBS, Dr Fauci went on to say that it does not make sense to him why Trump "equates wearing a mask with weakness."
Masks, Fauci maintained, "really do work."
His comments came as US recorded 8,154,936 Covid-19 cases and 219,674 fatalities, the two highest tallies across the globe, ahead of the 3 November Presidential Election 2020.
When Trump, first lady tested Covid+
Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump had tested positive for Covid-19, just days after the Rose Garden event. The US President was admitted to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and received various treatments before returning to the White House.
Upon his release, Trump told his followers that the virus that had hospitalised him for 3 days discharge from hospital, was nothing to fear. He also posed for a mask-less photo-op on the White House balcony, sending a message to his supporters that he was not afraid of the disease.
"Don't be afraid of Covid. Don't let it dominate your life," Trump wrote several hours before walking carefully out the hospital.
