US President Donald Trump
US President Donald TrumpReuters

US public health adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci confirmed a New York Times report claiming that US President Donald Trump rebuffed social distancing orders, The Guardian reported.

According to Dr. Fauci, he and other administration officials suggested implementing social distancing strategies in February, but Trump refused to take their advice for nearly a month.

According to the Times, Trump received warnings about coronavirus from intelligence officials in January, but the warnings were opposed by his economists, who did not want to harm the US' trade relationship with China.

Also in January, Trump's trade adviser, Peter Navarro, detailed in a memo the risks of a pandemic, including potentially half a million deaths and trillions of dollars in economic losses.

Meanwhile the Washington Post reported that in March, Trump asked Dr. Fauci, "Why don’t we let this wash over the country?" to which Dr. Fauci responded that such a scenario would mean millions of Americans die.

Dr. Fauci also admitted that an earlier response could have saved lives.

Currently, the US has 560,433 confirmed cases of coronavirus, and 22,115 deaths from the disease.