Face of Nation International : President Donald Trump said more than a million Americans have been tested for the coronavirus and the nation’s premiere public health expert vigorously defended Trump’s decision to extend social distancing measures as a battle to contain the coronavirus gained steam Monday. “We have no other choice,” Trump said Monday evening of the social distancing extension.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said on CNN that coronavirus infections and deaths in New York and elsewhere have not begun decreasing “within the time frame that was originally estimated.” Fauci said he showed Trump the data and the president quickly agreed with the recommendation to extend the guidelines through the end of April. “It would not have been a good idea to pull back at a time when you really needed to be pressing your foot on the pedal as opposed to on the brakes,” Fauci said.
Monday evening, the U.S. death total surpassed 3,000 and there were more than 163,000 confirmed cases, according to the Johns Hopkins University data dashboard. Just last week, Trump said he wanted the country – most notably, the economy – “raring to go” by Easter. That was before Fauci said Sunday that 100,000 to 200,000 Americans could die because of the virus.
The global death count was more than 37,600 Monday, and there were more than 784,000 confirmed cases. (Source – USAToday News – USA)
