As a career civil servant, Anthony Fauci is not an easy man to fire, despite the pleas of a crowd of Donald Trump supporters chanting at a weekend rally.
The latest tiff between Fauci and the president came following Trump’s campaign statements that the U.S. has “turned the corner” on the pandemic. Fauci, in a Washington Post interview on Saturday, said America “could not possibly be positioned more poorly” as it heads into the winter. The U.S. recorded nearly 100,000 new cases Friday, the most at any point in the pandemic.
Fauci also offered praise for the campaign of former Vice President Joe Biden, saying it was taking the coronavirus “seriously from a public health perspective.” Then came the “fire Fauci” chants from the crowd at a Sunday evening rally for the president in Florida, mirroring the “lock her up” rally chants targeting Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in 2016.
President Donald Trump listens as Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, speaks about the coronavirus in the James Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House in Washington in April. AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File
“Don’t tell anybody, but let me wait until a little bit after the election. I appreciate the advice, I appreciate it,” Trump replied to the crowd. “No, he’s been wrong on a lot. He’s a nice man, though. He’s been wrong on a lot.”
Fauci, a member of the Trump’s Coronavirus Task Force, has led the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases since being named in 1984 under then-President Ronald Reagan. Trump routinely muses about things in his rallies, and it isn’t clear whether he is considering firing Fauci. The president, though, has all but frozen out Fauci, who has lost influence to Scott Atlas, an adviser who downplays the risk of the virus.
It’s not the first time the issue of firing Fauci has surfaced. Speaking to reporters on Oct. 19, Trump said he didn’t want to fire Fauci. “I don’t want to, I don’t want to hurt him.” Trump said. “He’s been there for about 350 years.”
Biden, meanwhile, had a different message at a rally in Ohio. “Elect me and I’m going to hire Dr. Fauci,” Biden said.
Fauci is a Title 42 senior-level federal employee, covered under the performance management system for members of the Senior Executive Service. The White House declined to comment Monday on whether it believes it has the authority to fire him.
But Diane Seltzer Torre of the Bethesda, Md.-based Seltzer Law Firm, which concentrates on employment law, said that under Fauci’s current status, Trump can’t fire him directly.
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Russia reports 18,000 cases for 5th straight day
MOSCOW — Russia reported more than 18,000 daily coronavirus cases for a record five straight days.
On Tuesday, the government’s coronavirus task force registered 18,648 confirmed cases. The previous record was more than 11,000 daily infections, set in the spring.
Russia currently has the world’s fourth-largest coronavirus caseload of 1.6 million. There’s been nearly 29,000 confirmed deaths since the start of the pandemic.
Russia has seen a surge in the past two months, with the number of new infections spiking from more than 5,000 a day in early September to 18,000 a day this week.
However, authorities have resisted a second lockdown or shutting down businesses despite reports about overwhelmed hospitals, drug shortages and inundated medical workers.
British government plans citywide virus testing program
LONDON — The British government plans to trial a new citywide coronavirus testing program in Liverpool, offering regular testing to everyone who lives and works in the city of 500,000 in an effort to slow the spread of the virus.
Testing will take place throughout the city using a variety of technologies, including new methods that can provide results in an hour or less.
The Department of Health says, “these more advanced tests will help identify infectious individuals who are not displaying symptoms … so they can self-isolate and prevent the virus from spreading.”
The Liverpool trial is seen as a test of how Britain may roll out mass testing across the country, which is facing a surge in coronavirus infections. England is scheduled to begin a second national lockdown on Thursday.
Liverpool has one of the highest infection rates in England, with more than 410 cases per 100,000 people.
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BERLIN — Germany is counting on a new type of test to avoid closing nursing homes to visitors, a move that caused considerable anguish among residents and relatives in the spring.
So-called antigen tests, which look for a specific protein on the virus, were first launched months ago. They are cheap and fast, but experts said at the time they are also less accurate than the standard PCR test, which detects even the tiniest genetic trace of the virus.
Still, Germany — which has managed to contain the spread of the outbreak better than many of its neighbors — announced recently that it is bulk-buying millions of antigen tests each month.
“We have a new strategy,” Chancellor Angela Merkel said. “We can now basically perform rapid tests on visitors to nursing and care homes.”
Nursing homes will receive up to 20 free monthly tests per resident. These can be used to test patients, staff and — crucially — visiting relatives, who might be unwitting carriers of the virus.
Surge in new cases hits rural Kansas counties
TOPEKA, Kan. — A surge in confirmed coronavirus cases in Kansas is hitting some of the state’s most rural counties hard and has officials in even urban areas worrying that people aren’t following public health advice closely enough.
Of the 20 Kansas counties with the largest number of new cases per 1,000 residents in the past two weeks, all but two have fewer than 10,000 residents, and a dozen of them have fewer than 3,000.
But health officials elsewhere say the virus is also spreading because people are still going to family gathering such as weddings, baby showers and barbecues. The health officer in the state’s most populous county of Johnson County in the Kansas City area says 20% of its cases since Sept. 1 are people infecting others in their own households.
Nebraska sees record-high number of hospitalizations
OMAHA, Neb. — The surge in coronavirus cases in Nebraska has led to record-high hospitalizations and strains on the state’s health care system.
The number of people hospitalized in the state with the coronavirus set another record on Sunday with 613, one more than the previous day. Hospitalizations from COVID-19 have surged over the last month, according to the state’s online tracking portal.
Dr. Cary Ward, chief medical officer for CHI Health’s network of 14 hospitals across eastern Nebraska and western Iowa, says there had been a doubling of COVID-positive patients in the last several weeks in the network. He said if the trend continues “every hospital in the state could be at capacity in a very short period of time.”
Nebraska’s largest hospitals have started limiting elective surgeries as they work to cope with the increase in COVID-19 hospitalizations. The number of confirmed cases increased by 934 on Sunday in Nebraska, which has the seventh-highest rate of new cases in the nation.
Connecticut postpones jury trials in face of rising virus cases
HARTFORD, Conn. — Rising rates of the coronavirus in Connecticut have postponed plans to resume jury trials in state courts.
Chief Justice Richard Robinson in September announced a proposal to have residents begin reporting for jury duty again on Nov. 2, about eight months after trials were put on on hold in March as the virus swept through the state.
The plan has been put on hold indefinitely and will be reassessed weekly, said Rhonda Stearley-Hebert, a spokeswoman for the Judicial Branch.
Gov. Ned Lamont’s office has said the number of cases has been rising steadily, including a one-day positive test rate of 6.1% on Thursday. Friday’s rate was back down to 2.5%. The rate had been below 1% over the summer.
Connecticut also continues to see an increase in hospitalizations and deaths. There were 329 people in the state hospitalized with COVID-19 on Friday, the most since early June. The state also reported seven more virus-related deaths Friday, bringing the state’s total during the pandemic to 4,616. More than 71,000 people in the state have tested positive.
U.S. Surgeon General pleads not guilty to violating Hawaii virus restrictions
HONOLULU — U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams is pleading not guilty to being in a Hawaii park that was closed amid coronavirus restrictions.
Adams’ attorney, Michael Green, entered the plea on his behalf. Adams was not in Hawaii for Monday’s hearing. His assistant, who was also cited with him last month, also pleaded not guilty.
Adams and his aide were in Hawaii helping with a spike in coronavirus cases. A police officer found them at Kualoa Regional Park, which was closed to prevent gatherings of people. Adams was taking in the view and snapping photos at the park on Oahu’s northeastern coast, according to the citation.
Adams told the officer he was visiting Hawaii to work with the governor for COVID-19 and didn’t know parks were closed. The offense is a misdemeanor and carries a fine of up to $5,000, up to a year in jail, or both.
November 03, 2020 at 09:48PM
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