Dr. Anthony Fauci confirmedthat he will meet virtually with President-elect Joe Biden’s transition team about the coronavirus pandemic.
Fauci has had initial conversations with Biden aides, including incoming White House chief of staff Ron Klain, in recent days as part of the infectious diseases expert’s expected role in the Biden administration.
The meeting comes one day after the US reported its highest one-day coronavirus death tally and as health care officials say their staff and facilities are struggling to supporting the rising number of patients. More than 2,800 Covid-19 deaths were reported on Wednesday. The number of Covid-19 patients in US hospitals Wednesday also is the highest reported on a given day during the pandemic — 100,226, according to the COVID Tracking Project.
One of Biden’s most urgent priorities when he takes office on January 20 will be to contain the coronavirus pandemic, which has killed more than 273,000 Americans as of Thursday morning, and to oversee the national distribution of a vaccine when one becomes available.
Fauci, who has a lengthy career serving under six presidents from both parties, is a leading member of President Donald Trump’s White House coronavirus task force. He has served as the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases since 1984.
The infectious disease expert has been critical of the Trump administration’s response to the pandemic. He told The Washington Post in October that the United States needed to make an “abrupt change” in public health practices and behaviors, and said that the White House coronavirus task force meets less frequently and has far less influence as Trump and his advisers have focused on reopening the country. He was also critical of Scott Atlas, a neuroradiologist with no training in the field of infectious disease, who the President has relied on for advice on handling the pandemic. Atlas recently resigned from his post in the Trump administration.