Dr. Anthony Fauci says 'it would be better' if he and other government health officials started working with President-elect Joe Biden’s transition team to tackle the coronavirus crisis.
'Of course it would be better if we could start working with them,' the nation’s lead infectious diseases expert said on Sunday to CNN’s Jake Tapper.
He added that President Donald Trump hasn’t attended a White House Coronavirus Task Force meeting in several months.
Fauci's push for a transition of power comes as the US broke 11million COVID-19 cases on Sunday with a death toll of more than 246,000. The country recorded more than one million new cases this past week alone.
Dr. Anthony Fauci says 'it would be better' if he and other government health officials started working with President-elect Joe Biden’s transition team to tackle the coronavirus crisis. He told CNN's Jake Tapper: 'Of course it would be better if we could start working with them'
Biden’s coronavirus team has been already reaching out to states and the medical community so that they have a head start come January’s inauguration. However, the transition team does not have access to the administration’s COVID-19 data or vaccine distribution plans
When Tapper asked on the urgency due to the pandemic to start communicating with Biden's incoming team, Fauci said it's more pressing than ever to have a smooth and quick transition of power.
'As you know, I've been through multiple transitions now, having served six presidents for 36 years. And it's very clear that the transition process that we go through ... is really important in a smooth handing over of the information as well as it's almost like passing the baton in a race,' he said.
'You don’t want to stop and then give it to somebody, you want to essentially keep going,' he added.
Fauci praised the president-elect for choosing Ron Klain for chief of staff, who worked with Fauci during the Ebola outbreak in 2014.
'He was absolutely terrific at the Ebola situation where we had a very successful, ultimate endgame with Ebola. We developed therapies. We put out the outbreak — you know, it was a terrible outbreak, obviously. But we, ultimately, were very successful but that is how I got to know Ron.'
Fauci said that President Donald Trump hasn’t attended a White House Coronavirus Task Force meeting in several months. Pictured above during an April 1 coronavirus press conference
Trump has refused to concede in the presidential election. The president pictured golfing on Sunday at the Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Virginia
The transition of presidential power has not started yet because Donald Trump has refused to accept the results of the election.
Meanwhile, Biden’s coronavirus team has been already reaching out to states and the medical community so that they have a head start come January’s inauguration.
However, the transition team does not have access to the administration’s COVID-19 data or vaccine distribution plans.
A transition is unlikely to take place until a Trump appointee within the General Services Administration certifies the result.
On Sunday Adm. Brett Giroir, the coronavirus testing coordinator for the Department of Health and Human Services said to ABC News that Trump last attended a meeting five months ago.
However, Vice President Mike Pence briefs the president on the meeting 'every day or nearly every day.'
Fauci told Tapper on Sunday the nation could get back to 'relative normal' by April or July of 2021.
Concerns for the virus are mounting as the country heads into the holiday season.
It took just over two weeks for the nation to go from eight million cases to nine million on October 30; from nine to 10 million took only 10 days, according to the New York Times.
The country logged more than 159,100 new cases on Saturday, the third highest total of the pandemic.
Ten states set single-day case records on Saturday; 29 states added more cases in the last week than in any other seven-day period.
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