Fauci says Trump no longer talks much to him or the rest of the coronavirus task force

• Dr. Anthony Fauci, the US's top infectious-disease expert, told the health-news site STAT News that President Donald Trump was no longer frequently meeting with top public-health experts to discuss the fight against the coronavirus.
• "Certainly my meetings with the president have been dramatically decreased," Fauci said.
• The president has clashed with public-health experts, pushed unproven or dangerous substances as potential treatments, and refused to wear a protective mask in public.
• Trump stepped away from the daily coronavirus briefings with experts after a disastrous appearance in April when he suggested that disinfectant should be investigated as a treatment.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the US's top infectious-disease expert, said President Donald Trump was now only rarely meeting with public-health experts on the coronavirus crisis.

In an interview with the health-news outlet STAT News published early Monday, Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, was asked whether he was in frequent contact with the president on the progress of vaccine candidates.

"No," Fauci said.

"We used to have task force meetings every single day, including Saturday and Sunday, and about 75% of the time after the task force meeting we'd meet with the president," Fauci added. "So I was meeting with him four times a week back, a month or so ago.

"But as you probably noticed, that the task force meetings have not occurred as often lately. And certainly my meetings with the president have been dramatically decreased."

The US has been consumed by protests and riots in cities over the past week, but the nation also faces a second problem: how to get out of the coronavirus crisis. COVID-19 has killed more than 100,000 Americans, and the pandemic has devastated the economy.

Meanwhile, Trump has clashed with health experts, touting unproven treatments and ignoring the safety measures they've suggested, such as wearing a mask.

Trump has not hosted daily coronavirus briefings since April, when he disastrously proposed investigating disinfectant as a coronavirus treatment.

According to reports, the coronavirus task force, which Fauci is a key member of, continued to meet behind the scenes.

Trump and Fauci have also been at odds over the pace of states reopening from lockdown measures. In testimony before Congress in May, Fauci warned of the risk of lifting the restrictions too soon. The president is said to be intent on holding the Republican National Convention in August with no social-distancing measures in place.

The president recently unveiled a new campaign slogan, "Transition to Greatness," and pledged to lead America's economic resurgence.

In the STAT News interview, Fauci said he remained concerned about lifting lockdown measures in areas where infection rates remained high, alluding to the photos that emerged over Memorial Day weekend of people at packed pool parties.

"When I see a situation where there is a region, a state, a city, a county where there's a considerable amount of viral activity there, and you see people crowding around bars — and there were several pictures of that, that was quite striking over the last couple of days — or on boardwalks, where they're very, very close to each other, I do get concerned," he said.