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President Trump publicly signaled his frustration on Sunday with Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the federal government’s top infectious disease expert, after the doctor said more lives could have been saved from the coronavirus if the country had been shut down earlier. Mr. Trump reposted a Twitter message that said “Time to #FireFauci” as he rejected criticism of his slow initial response to the pandemic that has now killed more than 22,000 people in the United States. The president privately has been irritated at times with Dr. Fauci, but the Twitter post was the most explicit he has been in letting that show publicly. (Baker, 4/12)

Appearing on CNN on Sunday morning, Dr. Fauci said that the government “could have saved more lives” if it had moved sooner to impose social-distancing restrictions. On Sunday evening, Mr. Trump retweeted a message from a former Republican congressional candidate attacking that comment. “Fauci is now saying that had Trump listened to the medical experts earlier he could’ve saved more lives,” wrote DeAnna Lorraine, who challenged House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) in her San Francisco-area district. Her message went on: “Fauci was telling people on February 29th that there was nothing to worry about and it posed no threat to the US public at large. Time to #FireFauci…” (Leary, 4/13)

Asked whether the statistics were the direct result of the late start on mitigation measures, Fauci said that "it isn't as simple as that." While earlier mitigation efforts would have had an impact, Fauci noted that "where we are right now is the result of a number of factors," including the size of the country and the heterogeneity of the country. "I think it's a little bit unfair to compare us to South Korea, where they had an outbreak in Daegu, and they had the capability of immediately, essentially, shutting it off completely in a way that we may not have been able to do in this country," he said. "So, obviously, it would have been nice if we had a better head start, but I don't think you could say that we are where we are right now because of one factor." (Wise, 4/12)

An invisible enemy is killing thousands and forcing people worldwide to cower behind closed doors. Unfounded conspiracy theories and miracle “cures” abound on social media. Politicians and pundits send mixed messages about how to protect yourself. Who you gonna call? As the coronavirus rampages, the public increasingly is turning to experts in academia and government -- the educated, experienced “elites” that many Americans had tuned out. (Flesher and Borenstein, 4/12)