Fauci says the marathon White House coronavirus briefings can be 'really draining' and prevent him from getting back to work

• Dr. Anthony Fauci told the Associated Press in an interview that the length of the White House coronavirus briefings could be "really draining."
• "If I had been able to just make a few comments and then go to work, that would have really been much better," Fauci told the AP.
• "It isn't the idea of being there and answering questions, which I really think is important for the American public. It's the amount of time."
• Fauci is currently the most trusted face of the nation's coronavirus response, an Insider poll found, and his presence at the briefings often comes as a relief for many Americans.
• The White House briefings frequently stretch over an hour. April 13th's briefing ran for almost 2 1/2 hours.
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Dr. Anthony Fauci knows the White House briefings can run too long.

In an interview with the Associated Press, the nation's top infectious disease expert and currently the most trusted face of the coronavirus response acknowledged that while he believed there was a benefit to informing the public during the daily press conferences, that they often ran long and prevented him from going back to work.

Fauci emphasized the importance of his appearances but told AP the length of the briefings was "really draining."

"If I had been able to just make a few comments and then go to work, that would have really been much better," Fauci told the AP. "It isn't the idea of being there and answering questions, which I really think is important for the American public. It's the amount of time."

The White House briefings, scheduled for the evenings, frequently stretch over an hour - Monday's ran for about two and a half. Fauci's comments come after several of Trump's critics have questioned the briefing's benefit, given that the has often contradicted his health experts, attacked reporters, and made overly ambitious promises about timelines and treatments from the podium.

In late March, several major television networks decided to cut away from one of Trump's briefings, and some continue to do so halfway into April.

But many viewers see Fauci's presence at the briefings as a balm; Twitter uses take immediate notice whenever he fails to appear at a coronavirus task force briefing.

A recent Insider poll found that Fauci, along with New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, were the two most trusted leaders in America on the coronavirus.

Fauci also told the AP that Trump's new target date of May 1 to reopen the economy is "a bit overly optimistic," and that easing social distancing rules around the country may have to occur on a "rolling basis." He worried that testing and tracing methods were not yet advanced enough to lift all restrictions safely.

"I'll guarantee you, once you start pulling back there will be infections," Fauci told AP. "It's how you deal with the infections that's going count."

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