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Fauci on elected officials not enacting public health measures: ‘Beyond stunning’

In an interview with Yahoo News National Correspondent Alexander Nazaryan, Dr. Anthony Fauci said it was “almost incomprehensible” that in places where coronavirus cases are rising, hospitals are near capacity and people are dying, citizens and elected officials could say COVID-19 is fake news.

Video transcript

ALEXANDER NAZARYAN: So it must be stunning to you to see governors in South Dakota and Florida act like the virus is just over with and people can congregate as they wish without any-- seemingly, they're endorsing just a lack of any kind of public health measures.

ANTHONY FAUCI: Well, it's-- it's beyond stunning to me. It's almost incomprehensible how in places where you have the intensive care beds completely full and intensive care patients needing to be housed in other places. And you have the possibility of pending shortages of staff, that in those same places, they're still saying it's fake news. It's a hoax.

How could you possibly do that when it's staring you right in the face in the place where you live that people are dying in intensive care units? I just-- I don't get that at all. And I think there are going to be people that are going to be analyzing that every which way when this is all over, how that possibly could have happened.