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The 2020 census count will end on September 30, a month earlier than last announced, the Census Bureau said. Some U.S. schools have begun to reopen, with combined results.
This briefing is over. Read the coronavirus updates here.
Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease specialist, agreed on Monday with his colleague Dr. Deborah Birx that the United States has entered a “new phase” of the coronavirus pandemic, in which the virus is now spreading uncontrolled in some states by asymptomatic people — comments that drew fire from President Trump.
Dr. Fauci said Dr. Birx had been referring to the “inherent community spread” that is occurring in some states, adding: “When you have community spread, it’s much more difficult to get your arms around that and contain it.”
Speaking at a press conference with Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont, Dr. Fauci called the network’s spread “insidious” and noted that he is going outside in confined spaces such as nursing homes and prisons.
In supporting Dr. Birx, coordinator of the Trump administration’s coronavirus reaction, Dr. Fauci disagreed with the president. The previous Monday, Trump called Dr. Birx “pathetic” on Twitter and informed him that his comments on a “new phase” were an effort to win the favor of President Nancy Pelosi.
At a late-night press conference, Trump gave the impression of encouraging his comments about Dr. Birx. “He’s a user I respect a lot for,” he said, while protecting his administration’s reaction to the virus.
Former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. responded to Mr. Trump in a tweet Monday afternoon. “It’s hard for this to be meant, but if I’m elected president, I’ll spend Monday mornings running with our country’s most sensible experts to control this virus, without insulting them on Twitter,” Biden said.
But other Republicans have accumulated. “Dr. Birx, like Dr. Fauci, was much more than she was right about COVID-19, and her destructive prescriptions led to the devastation of countless American lives,” Arizona Republican Rep. Andy Biggs wrote on Twitter.
Dr. Birx warned in an appearance in CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday that the United States is entering a “new phase” in its fight against the pandemic, and that rural communities will not be saved. “It’s incredibly spread,” he said.
On Monday morning, shortly after Trump tweeted about him, Dr. Birx told governors at a weekly briefing that the lack of masking at giant space meetings “is a critical problem,” pointing to spikes in many southern states.
Trump also criticized Dr. Fauci, despite his claims that the two have “very smart relationships.” In a tweet Saturday in reaction to reports that Dr. Fauci had connected the recent outbreak of cases with insufficient blockages, Trump tweeted, “False!”
In a live verbal exchange Monday with Dr. Howard Bauchner, editor-in-chief of the Journal of the American Medical Association, Dr. Fauci said that while communities across the country are suffering if and how need to be reopened by scientists , scientists “really want to be humble.”
There are significant gaps in wisdom about the likelihood that young people will get coronavirus, be poor health and pass on the disease, Dr. Fauci said. A recent examination found that young people had higher degrees of viruses in their nose and throat, for example, but were not contagious.
Dr. Fauci said he hoped that some questions about the dangers to young people and their role in transmission would be answered in a government re-examination of another 6,000 people on the infection rate among young people and their families.
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