Although the United States remains the hardest hit nation by the COVID-19 pandemic in the world — with 6,495,813 cases and 193,699 deaths connected to the coronavirus at the time of this writing according to Worldometers — and sees thousands of new cases every day, it seems that President Donald Trump has seldom seen eye-to-eye with health officials since the crisis has emerged.
As the BBC reported, we've often seen this disagreement take the form of clashes in messaging with National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Dr. Anthony Fauci. One particular example saw Trump retweet a video that claimed that masks and lockdowns were unnecessary while also touting hydroxychloroquine as an effective COVID-19 treatment.
Fauci has since responded that neither of these claims are productive or backed by the best available medical research.
It's likely in the wake of such messaging clashes that Biden is now asserting that he will remain open to the advice of health officials if he is elected.