'The president didn't want to get Covid, from everything I can glean, and thought he was being protected based the testing that was in place around him,' Dr. Scott Gottlieb told CNBC on Monday.
"I hope the whole White House takes a different approach. I don't think there were good precautions taken at the White House. They weren't modeling good precautions, but equally important, they weren't taking good precautions to protect the president, in my view," Gottlieb said onThey both need to model better precautions for the nation so that people see a better example being set by our leaders.
Gottlieb, earlier on "Squawk Box," took issue with most of the prevention strategy relying on testing for the coronavirus. Many public health experts during the pandemic have emphasized that coronavirus testing is . They have said other protocols such as wearing face coverings, maintaining social distance and good hygiene are critical to preventing transmission, too.under Trump, said that even the testing system in place at the White House had its shortcomings. The Trump administration had relied on a rapid turnaround test to screen staff and visitors during the pandemic.
"If they were relying on testing alone to keep the virus out of the West Wing and out of the White House compound, they needed a zero-fail testing regime. They didn't have it," said Gottlieb, who led the FDA"It was told to people in the White House that there was problems with the way they were using testing as a tool to try and prevent virus from getting in the White House compound, and in and around the president, and they didn't really step that up," he added.
Trump's handling of the pandemic has come under criticism for months. He rarely wears a face mask in public and has held campaign rallies with attendees crowded close together.
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