A protester holding a poster stands in front of the Capitol in Washington D.C., the United States, Feb. 3, 2020. (Xinhua/Liu Jie)
"You have to be having blindfolders on and covering your ears to think that we don't live in a very divisive society now."
WASHINGTON, July 9 (Xinhua) -- A top U.S. infectious diseases expert said on Thursday that U.S. partisanship has made the fight against COVID-19 harder and the country is not doing well in anti-epidemic fight compared to others.
"You have to be having blindfolders on and covering your ears to think that we don't live in a very divisive society now," said Anthony Fauci, director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, in an interview with the FiveThirtyEight podcast.
Anthony Fauci, director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, prepares to testify before the House Energy and Commerce Committee on Oversight of the Trump Administration's Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic in Washington, D.C., the United States, June 23, 2020. (Sarah Silbiger/Pool via Xinhua)
"You'd have to make the assumption that if there wasn't such divisiveness, that we would have a more coordinated approach," Fauci said.
In his latest rebuke to U.S. President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly touted alleged progress the United States has made in tackling the COVID-19 outbreak, Fauci acknowledged that the country has performed poorly in the battle against COVID-19.
"As a country, when you compare us to other countries, I don't think you can say we're doing great. I mean, we're just not," he said. ■