Kentucky GOP Sen. Rand Paul at a Senate committee hearing with Dr. Anthony Fauci and other medical professionals on Tuesday, aggressively questioned the nation's full reliance on the opinion of a small group of federal health experts that could be right on wrong to decide “what's best for everyone” all across the United States.
“It's important to realise that if society meekly submits to an expert and that expert is wrong, a great deal of harm may occur,” Paul said. “We shouldn't presume that a group of experts somehow knows what's best for everyone”.
Paul’s made his remarks after Dr. Fauci, the US government’s top infectious-disease expert, voiced opposition to some of the reopening plans, claiming that the US is going in the “wrong direction” regarding the COVID-19 outbreak. He said that the country could see a surge in infections, up to 100,000 new cases per day, if the government doesn't take action “very quickly”.
Speaking namely to Dr. Fauci, the senator supported his argument, citing examples of other nations that have reopened schools or resumed sports activities without seeing a surge in COVID-19 cases due to reopening, at a time when US health experts, whom he called government “central planners”, recommend no taking such steps.
“Dr. Fauci, every day we seem to hear from you things we can’t do. But when you’re asked, can we go back to school? I don’t hear much certitude at all,” Paul questioned. “All I hear, Dr. Fauci, is, ‘We can't do this, we can't do that. We can't play baseball’.”
In response, Dr. Fauci agreed with the senator on the importance for schools to reopen. He also referred to his remarks on strategies school districts could implement to reopen safely, including using abbreviated class schedules to ensure social distancing.
However, the health expert said that it’s not easy to reopen schools as long as the coronavirus remained a threat in the country.
“The only thing that I can do is to the best of my ability give you the facts and the evidence associated with what I know about this outbreak,” Fauci said.
On Tuesday, the US COVID-19 cases rose by over 46,000, which is the highest daily increase since the start of the pandemic in the country, according to Reuters' coronavirus tally.