'Frustrated' Dr. Fauci claims lack of 'leadership' is partly behind 'burst' of new COVID-19 infections

Speaking to CBS News this Friday, top infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci voiced his frustration with Americans who still refuse to follow the recommended health guidelines for stemming the spread of coronavirus.

"Clearly, we have not succeeded in getting the public as a whole, uniformly to respond in a way that is a sound scientific [response to a] public health and medical situation. I mean, it is clear because right now, you're seeing people throughout the country [contracting the virus]. And it's unfortunate. And it's frustrating," Fauci told CBS News Radio's Steven Portnoy.

Fauci went on to even suggest that "leadership" could play a partial role in how people react to stay-at-home orders.

"It's a combination of leadership on the one hand, but even sometimes, when the leadership calls out for people to obey certain types of guidelines, they don't do it. I mean, they — and that is very frustrating. And that's the reason why we're seeing the burst of infections that we're seeing right now in our country," he said. "In many states and cities, you have the leadership actually giving the right guideline instruction. But somehow, people for one reason or another, don't believe it or not fazed by it. And they go ahead and do things that are either against the guidelines that their own leadership is saying."

Ultimately, Fauci says, it comes down to people's "mistrust of science" and the "anti-authority" sentiment that permeates in certain circles.

"And there's a lot of anti-authority feeling," he said. "I think that's the kind of thing that drives the anti-vaxxers, the people who don't believe the science of vaccination and don't want to get their children vaccinated. It's all part of that trend, which is very disturbing."

Read the full interview over at CBS News.