Testifying before the US Senate Tuesday, Dr. Anthony Fauci and colleagues painted a dire (if confusing) picture of what an America that reopens to soon could look like. The pressing question now, says Jill Filipovic: Will Donald Trump listen?
The White House doesn’t seem particularly committed to moving forward. Troublingly, the Trump administration shelved specific CDC reopening guidelines (White House coronavirus adviser Dr. Deborah Birx denied the report was buried, saying instead it was being edited and simplified).
Those guidelines were industry-specific, outlining what schools, child care facilities, mass transit systems, restaurants, workplaces and faith leaders could do to stem the spread of the virus. The White House guidelines, by contrast, have been criminally vague. Redfield said during Tuesday’s hearing that more details would be coming soon, but didn’t specify when.
All of this seemed to particularly aggravate a handful of blue state senators during the Senate testimony Tuesday. Chris Murphy, a Connectictut Democrat, repeatedly asked how his state was supposed to reopen in a few short days without clear and specific guidance.
Fauci’s recommendation that states „go by the guidelines that have been very well thought out and very well delineated“ was well-taken, but a bit hard to reconcile with the fact that guidance has not been nearly as specific as it needs to be, and expert opinion has been repeatedly undermined by the Trump administration.
