Dr. Anthony Fauci on Thursday agreed that packed crowds of children at US-Mexico border facilities would be a “major concern” for spreading COVID-19.
The nation’s top infectious disease expert was shown a photo in a hearing on Capitol Hill of migrant children crowded in a border facility in Donna, Texas.
House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.), who held up the image, said Border Patrol officials told him the facility had housed 4,000 children packed in together.
Comparing the situation to an overpacked restaurant, Scalise asked if Fauci would consider it a “major concern” if a business was at 250 percent capacity with 4,000 people.
“It would be a major concern, yes,” Fauci said.
Scalise said the figures were the same at the border facility with children “in most cases 6 inches apart, many without masks.”
When Scalise asked if he would consider the facilities disregarding public health guidance a “major concern,” Fauci replied, “Yes.”
Scalise then called on Fauci to bring the conditions to the attention of President Biden.
“It’s happening right now. It needs to end. President Biden can end this today,” Scalise said.
“He needs to stop this national health crisis, and a superspreader COVID event that he’s created at our southern border.”