Dr Fauci admits he worried about contracting Covid-19 in Trump White House

‘I didn’t fixate on that, but it was in the back of my mind because I had to be out there’

Dr Anthony Fauci, the nation's leading infectious disease expert, has revealed he was worried about contracting Covid-19 from Donald Trump's White House due to how many members of the administration became infected.

When speaking to Axios, Dr Fauci said he was slightly nervous about contracting the novel virus at the White House.

"I didn't fixate on that, but it was in the back of my mind because I had to be out there," he said. "I mean, particularly when I was going to the White House every day when the White House was sort of a super-spreader location."

Then-president Trump tested positive for Covid-19 in October after attending a Rose Garden event on 26 September, which was believed to be a super-spreader event.

Dozens of White House staff members, journalists, and attendees tested positive in the days following the event, including presidential aide Hope Hicks, First Lady Melania Trump, Republican Senator Mike Lee, former adviser Kellyanne Conway, and White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany.

The Rose Garden event, which was to announce the Supreme Court nomination of Justice Amy Coney Barrett, showed few people social distancing or wearing a mask.

Mr Trump was ultimately hospitalised for multiple days at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center while he recovered from the novel virus.

Dr Fauci, who served on the Trump administration's coronavirus task force, is now working as President Joe Biden's chief medical adviser to help tackle the pandemic.

The health expert told Axios he was not afraid to tell Mr Biden the hard facts about Covid-19 because he felt that the new president was "very wedded to the concept of 'science rules' and you act on basis of what the data and the scientific evidence tells you to do."

During his first press briefing under the Biden administration, Dr Fauci admitted it was "somewhat liberating" to be able to "let the science speak," hinting about the difficulties he faced when previously working under Mr Trump.

The former president openly discussed firing Dr Fauci several times in 2020 after the pair differed over how to respond to the pandemic. But Mr Trump had no power to fire Dr Fauci, as he was not in a politically appointed position in government.

Dr Fauci has served under seven presidents as the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.