Trump and his top aides are privately on edge about the spreading global threat of coronavirus, ramping up their response as fear starts to spread across the U.S.
In the span of a day, Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar suddenly became the face of the Trump White House’s public response to the Wuhan coronavirus.
On Monday, several senior officials expressed extreme frustration with Azar and the White House's response, feeling that the administration was caught flat-footed. Some specifically criticized Azar for not widely sharing information and being too slow to ramp up the administration’s efforts. The health secretary was chided in at least one meeting and told to get the U.S.
Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney this week urged Azar to begin holding a daily briefing to keep the public informed about the virus, officials said. Azar also appeared on Thursday on Fox News, where he told the anchor that the coronavirus “does not at this time pose a risk to the American public.
"Secretary Azar is leading the efforts of the United States’ response to the novel coronavirus, and is the strongest and most competent health secretary I have ever observed," Robert Redfield, the nation’s CDC director, said in a statement.
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