GOP’er & Fauci clash over ‘back to normal’

Republican Rep. Jim Jordan blasted Dr. Anthony Fauci at a hearing on Thursday for refusing to provide a specific answer on when America could begin a return to normalcy from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The tense exchange between the Ohio lawmaker and the national infections-disease expert came during a hearing of the House Coronavirus Crisis Subcommittee, also attended by Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“When is the time?” Jordan asked Fauci. “In your written statement, you say, ‘Now is not the time to pull back on masking, physical distancing and avoiding congregate settings.’ When is the time? When do Americans get their freedom back?”

Fauci, who is President Biden’s chief medical adviser and has been the public face of the federal pandemic response, started to answer but was challenged by Jordan for not providing objective metrics.

“When we get the level of infection in this country low enough that it is not a really high — ” Fauci began.

“What is low enough? Give me a number,” Jordan interjected. “We had 15 days to slow the spread, turned into one year of lost liberty. What metrics, what measures, what has to happen before Americans get more freedoms?”

Fauci said: “My message, Congressman Jordan, is to get as many people vaccinated as quickly as we possibly can to get the level of infection in this country low that it is no longer a threat. That is when, and I believe when that happens, you will see — ”

Jordan, whose face mask frequently slipped off his nose during the exchange, again interrupted.

“What determines when?” he asked. “What measure? Are we just going to continue this forever?”

Fauci countered that the priority was to prevent COVID-19 deaths.

“You’re indicating ‘liberty and freedom.’ I look at it as a public health measure to prevent people from dying and going to the hospital,” he said.

Responded Jordan: “You don’t think Americans’ liberties have been threatened the last year, Dr. Fauci? They’ve been assaulted!”

Fauci said he doesn’t “look at this as a liberty thing,” to which Jordan retorted, “Well, that’s obvious!”

Fauci said: “Right now, we have about 60,000 infections a day, which is a very large risk for a surge. We’re not talking about liberties. We’re talking about a pandemic that has killed 560,000 Americans.”

The pair clashed again later in the hearing, when Jordan pressed him for a “specific measurement.”

“If I have a number, it would have to be my best estimate,” Fauci said. “And that would be that the number of infections per day, or well below 10,000 per day. At that point . . . there would be a gradual pulling back of some of the restrictions.”

When is the time? When do Americans get their freedom back?