Anthony Fauci, M.D., the nation’s leading infectious disease expert, is once again setting the record straight on known facts about the coronavirus and the best ways to combat it, after Donald Trump shared a series of controversial tweets on Monday evening that ended up being removed by Twitter.
In an interview with Good Morning America, Fauci reiterated that currently, the best way to help battle the virus was by wearing a mask and maintaining social distance, while also doubling down on noting that hydroxychloroquine has no proven effect in battling COVID-19.
“We should all be wearing masks outside,” Fauci insisted. “Avoid crowds, close bars in areas where there’s viral activity, and do hand hygiene. There’s no question about that.”
This line of questioning all started because on Monday evening, Trump decided to share via Twitter multiple clips of a video apparently showing a group of doctors who were making misleading and/or false claims about the pandemic, as the Washington Post reports.
In the video, there were claims that face masks and lockdowns were not needed to combat the virus before he then started to share tweets defending the use of hydroxychloroquine, an antimalarial drug that he has supported the use of before, and a drug that he has even taken himself.
Twitter quickly moved to remove the problematic tweets, with a spokesperson telling the Post, “Tweets with the video are in violation of our COVID-19 misinformation policy.”
Fauci has contradicted Trump before in the past, and the two have continually been at odds, including times when the President retweeted a call to “Fire Fauci” back in April and, of course, more recently when he retweeted claims that Fauci was misleading Americans.
However, Fauci remains unflappable as always, telling GMA, “I have not been misleading the American public under any circumstances.
“I’m just going to certainly continue doing my job, he added. “I don’t tweet. I don’t even read them, so I don’t really want to go there.”