Facebook chief executive officer Mark Zuckerberg said on Thursday he was disappointed in the US government’s response to the coronavirus, in particular in the undermining of advice from scientists about public health measures like mask-wearing and failures of mass testing to control the spread of the disease.
“It’s really disappointing that we don’t have adequate testing, that the credibility of top scientists and the CDC are being questioned,” Zuckerberg said in an interview with Anthony Fauci, the country’s top infectious disease expert. “I strongly agree that we need something of a reset here.”
Zuckerberg and Fauci, director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Disease, were speaking live on the CEO’s Facebook page. The executive has been doing a series of interviews with scientists as part of an effort to provide verifiable information to Facebook’s users.
Fauci said many states rushed too quickly to reopen without bringing the virus adequately under control, leading to the resurgence in states across the US south and west.
“We’ve got to regroup, call a time out,” Fauci said.
‘Stay Vigilant’
Fauci also implored younger people to continue social distancing and other measures to curtail spread of the novel coronavirus.
“Please assume the societal responsibility of being part of the solution, not part of the problem,” Fauci said in the interview.
The median age of those infected has fallen by about 15 years as younger people, many of whom may show few symptoms, are being infected, he said.
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