Anger As US Toll Hits 500k

Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser says the US’s half-million coronavirus death toll should not have happened in one of the world’s richest countries.

- Christopher Bucktin

Dr Anthony Fauci yesterday called the US death toll “stunning” and said “intense” political divisiveness contributed to the poor handling of the crisis.

He added: “This is the worst thing that’s happened to this country with regard to the health of the nation in over 100 years.”

A pandemic, he said, would be a formidable challenge “under the best of circumstances,” adding other wealthy nations such as Britain have also struggled to tame Covid.

He went on: “However, that does not explain how a rich and sophisticated country can have the most percentage of deaths and be the hardest-hit country in the world. That, I believe, should not have happened.”

Dr Fauci’s words were a clear criticism of former President Donald Trump, who refused to bring in stay-at-home orders and even called the virus a “hoax”.