White House could do better than virus director Fauci, Rep. Biggs says

PHOENIX – The nation's leading coronavirus policymaker should be out of the job as quickly as possible, U.S. Rep. Andy Biggs of Arizona said Wednesday.

Immunologist Dr. Anthony Fauci isn't a pandemic specialist, Biggs told KTAR News 92.3 FM's The Mike Broomhead Show.

"He has admitted two things that I think are critical: … he doesn't trust any of the [virus] models anymore because they're all proven to be unreliable and yet he's the guy that has basically relied on all those unreliable models and given us so many policies," Biggs said.

Fauci also, Biggs said, failed to take into account "societal, economic costs" of the social distancing guidelines to help slow the spread of the coronavirus that has led to businesses shutting down and mass unemployment.

"He admitted it to us," Biggs said.

"Those are important when you develop a strategy to deal with a pandemic, as pandemic experts will tell you," Biggs said.

Fauci, the country's leading infectious disease expert, has headed up the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases since 1984. Dr. Deborah Birx, also an immunologist, has been the point person for President Donald Trump's coronavirus response task force.

"There are pandemic experts out there … they might be people you want to go to," rather than Birx or Fauci, he said.

Their expertise is maybe a little bit different than a pandemic expert."

Fauci has said had the government acted faster in responding to the outbreak, more lives could have been saved.

"When people think that 17 to 25 million people unemployed in this country is merely an inconvenience – the loss of capital, the loss of savings … the suicide rate increasing … when you're drawing a government paycheck and you're employed, yeah, somebody else's problem isn't a convenience," Biggs said.

A White House spokesman said earlier this week, "Dr. Fauci has been and remains a trusted advisor to President Trump," after the commander in chief retweeted a call for Fauci to be fired.