Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) clashed with infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci on Wednesday during a Senate hearing on the novel coronavirus.
Paul questioned whether lockdowns were an effective strategy to combat the spread of COVID-19. Later, he criticized Fauci for praising New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
"You've lauded New York for their policy. New York has had the highest death rate in the world -- how can we be jumping up and down saying Cuomo did a great job?" Paul said.
"You've misconstrued that, senator, and you've done that repetitively in the past," Fauci fired back. "They got hit very badly. They made some mistakes. Right now, if you look at what's going on right now, the things that are going on in New York to get their test positivity 1% or less is because they are looking at the guidelines that we have put together from the task force."
Paul countered that New York might be in better shape because of "community immunity."
"I challenge that, senator," Fauci responded. "I would like to be able to do this because this happens with Senator Rand the all the time. You are not listening to what the director of the CDC said that in New York it's about 22%. If you believe 22% is herd immunity, I believe you're alone in that."
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