Republican Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan grilled White House coronavirus task force member Dr. Anthony Fauci on Friday during a House subcommittee hearing on coronavirus.
Jordan used his five minutes of questioning to press the doctor on whether ongoing protests and demonstrations sparked by the death of George Floyd should be banned as a potential path for the spread of coronavirus, but Fauci repeatedly refused to answer directly.
âDr. Fauci, do protests increase the spread of the virus?â Jordan asked.
WATCH:
âCrowding together particularly when youâre not wearing a mask contributes to the spread of the virus,â Fauci responded, adding that he wasnât âin a position to determine what the government can do in a forceful wayâ when asked whether protests should be limited.
âIâm not favoring anybody over anybody,â Fauci said when pressed by Jordan about church services being banned in places. âIâm just making a statement thatâs a broad statement, that avoid crowds of any type, no matter where you are, because that leads to the acquisition and transmission. And I donât judge one crowd versus another crowd. When youâre in a crowd, particularly if youâre not wearing a mask, that induces the spread.â
âThereâs been no violence I can see at church. I havenât seen people during a church service go out and harm police officers or burn buildings, but we know that for 63 days, nine weeks, itâs been happening in Portland,â Jordan said. âOne night in Chicago 49 officers were injured, but no limits to protests but boy, you canât go to church on Sunday.â
âI donât know how many times I can answer that,â the doctor responded. âIâm not going to opine on limiting anything.â
The two continued to go back and forth with Jordan pointing out what he considers an âinconsistencyâ between the treatment of the two actions and Fauci denying it.
âI can tell you that crowds are known, particularly when you donât have a mask, to increase the acquisition and transmission, no matter what the crowd is,â Fauci told Jordan. (RELATED: âWhy Do You Think They Would Give You Money?â: Tucker Challenges Jim Jordan On Campaign Contributions From Google)
âBut do you understand Americansâ concern?â Jordan asked a visibly frustrated Fauci at the end. âProtesting according to Democrats is just fine, but you canât go to work, you canât go to school, you canât go to church. There are limits on all three of those fundamental activities, but protesting is just fine.â
Fauci did say in early June that he was âvery concernedâ that the then-new protests could spread coronavirus.
This post originally appeared on and written by:
Scott Morefield
The Daily Caller 2020-08-01 00:53:00