The members of the White House Coronavirus Task Force may have made "occasional" mistakes concerning the spread of coronavirus based on the information it has had on hand, but nobody is lying, Adm. Brett Giroir, assistant secretary of health and the Trump administration’s testing coordinator, insisted Tuesday.
"We are completely transparent with the American people," Giroir told NBC's "Today" co-host Savannah Guthrie. "In my experience on the task force, the vice president and everyone there has been completely transparent. We let the American people know what we know. Again, as new information comes, that may need to be changed, because we're learning every day. But nobody lies to the American people."
Meanwhile, tensions are being reported between the White House and Dr. Anthony Fauci, but the admiral said the medical professionals on the task force all bring their own strengths, but "none of us are always right. We admit that. I think we have a good relationship."
His comments came after President Donald Trump retweeted a claim by former game show host Chuck Woolery claiming that "everyone" is lying about the threat of the coronavirus.
Giroir also refused to speculate on the effect Trump's retweet could have on public confidence.
"I'm a physician, I'm a scientist," he said. "I'm not a Twitter analyst. To be quite honest, I don't spend time looking at any of that on Twitter, because who knows what it means and how it's interpreted."
Giroir also said the United States is "turning the corner" on the current coronavirus outbreak that is growing in several states, but it's too soon to do a victory lap.
"The percent of tests that are positive have leveled off or are going down in most of the jurisdictions that we have a problem with, and we're seeing ER visits go down in most of those jurisdictions," Giroir said.
Testing remains an issue, however, because of the lag time in commercial laboratories, said Giroir, who also pointed out that the government is working to reduce those wait times.
He also said it's important for children to return to school this fall, but first the virus must be under control.
"If we get it under control better, clearly kids can get back to school safely," he said. "Also, the data are suggestive now that at least small children have very little chance to spread it among themselves or other people."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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