Dr. Anthony Fauci told the House Select Committee on the Coronavirus Crisis that “crowds” further the spread of the coronavirus, but wouldn’t “opine” on whether the government should limit widespread protests as it has businesses and churches in a testy exchange Friday with Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio.
The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) director appeared alongside Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director (CDC) Dr. Robert Redfield and “testing czar” Admiral Brett Giroir, a Health and Human Services official and physician. The hearing was titled “The Urgent Need for a National Plan to Contain the Coronavirus.”
Jordan pushed Fauci on whether protests increased the spread of the virus, to which Fauci said that he can “make a general statement” that “crowding together particularly when you’re not wearing a mask contributed to the spread of the virus.” He later said any crowd, including protest crowds, would constitute a “risk” — and that indoor crowds are a bigger problem than outdoor ones.
But Jordan appeared to suggest Fauci was applying a double standard by holding back on stating that demonstrations should be curtailed for health reasons.
Jordan asked Fauci, “should we limit the protesting?” Fauci had Jordan clarify the question, to which Jordan responded “should government limit the protesting?”
Fauci said “I’m not in a position to determine what the government can do in a forceful way,” before Jordan interrupted: “You make all kinds of recommendations, you make comments on dating, on baseball, on everything you can imagine. I’m just asking, you just said, protesting increases the spread. I’m just asking you should we try to limit the protest?”
“I think I would leave that to people who have more of a position to do that,” Fauci responded. “I can tell you that…”
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