Fauci: ‘It would be better’ if government health officials could start working with incoming Biden-Harris administration
CNNWashington CNN — Dr. Anthony Fauci said Sunday that “it would be better” if government health officials could start working with President-elect Joe Biden’s transition team, underscoring the importance of a smooth transition process as the country grapples with the worsening coronavirus pandemic. “Of course it would be better if we could start working with them,” Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told CNN’s Jake Tapper on “State of the Union” when asked if being able to work with Biden’s team would be best for the public health of Americans. Adm. Brett Giroir, the coronavirus testing coordinator for the Department of Health and Human Services and a task force member, told ABC News on Sunday that it had been five months since Trump last attended a meeting, but noted that Pence briefs the President on the crisis “every day or nearly every day.” Fauci also praised Biden’s selection of Ron Klain as White House chief of staff as “an excellent choice.” Fauci noted that he worked with Klain during the Obama administration when Klain was tasked with coordinating the administration’s response to the Ebola crisis. “He was absolutely terrific at the Ebola situation where we had a very successful ultimate endgame with Ebola.” A gradual move toward ‘relative normal’ Fauci told Tapper on Sunday that he thinks the nation could start getting back to “relative normal” by April or July of 2021 – saying he thought that would be possible to achieve by the second or third quarter next year – but that the question of when Americans can safely gather in large groups again depends on a number of factors.