Fauci needs to 'move along' so US may open economy again, US rep says
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A House Republican said in an interview Monday that infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci needs to “move along” because he has kept America’s economy bottled up for too long and isn’t considering the economic impact of continued quarantines, a report said.
Rep. Andy Biggs, a Republican member of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee, said Fauci has helped with coronavirus pandemic management, but economic suffering must also be taken into account, the Arizona Republic reported.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}ARIZONA DAIRY FARMERS FORCED TO DUMP MILK DURING CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC
"I think it's time ... for Dr. Fauci to move along," Biggs said in the KFYI-AM interview. "I mean, he shouldn't have a seat at the table. He shouldn't be making decisions that are basically impacting this country in a way that we haven't even considered.
"I mean, he (Fauci) has said he has not considered economic or societal or social fallout for his remedy for the epidemic. And if that's the case, I think he gets some credit for where we stand today, but I think it's time for him to move on."
"I mean, he has said he has not considered economic or societal or social fallout for his remedy for the epidemic. And if that's the case, I think he gets some credit for where we stand today, but I think it's time for him to move on."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}WHITE HOUSE HITS BACK AT MEDIA SPECULATION ON FAUCI, SAYS TRUMP 'NOT FIRING' HIM
Biggs was candid when asked when he would advocate opening quarantined businesses: "This morning. Look, if you've got a retail shop and you open up there isn't anybody in Arizona, nobody is going to stop you," he told KFYI-AM.
Andy Biggs
"You should be exercising wise social distancing mechanisms, let only so many people into your store. People need to stand back behind the lines. I mean, look, we can do this in grocery stores. We seem to be doing it fine in grocery stores. Why couldn't you do it in a furniture store or bike shop, a flower shop or a bookstore?"
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, who appears almost daily at President Trump’s daily coronavirus briefings, has emerged as the most authoritative medical voice in efforts to grapple with the pandemic, the newspaper reported.
Biggs' salvo comes a day after Trump retweeted a call to fire Fauci after Fauci said lives could have been saved if the nation had shut down sooner in response to the threat of COVID-19.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}On Sunday, Fauci said the economy should have a "rolling reentry" into more normal life, based on regional conditions.
"This has basically emasculated the United States' economy," Biggs said. "And part of it is because Dr. Fauci took what I would call a generic meat-cleaver approach to this thing, where everybody's going to be basically isolated. We're going to close businesses," he told the radio station.
Some Republicans, such as Sen. Marco Rubio, have resisted the push against Fauci.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Responding to the popular idea to fire Fauci, Rubio tweeted, "For what?"
Rubio said China misled the world on COVID-19 and most governments were slow to respond, the Republic reported.