indica News Bureau-
Clips of an Indian origin Dr. Rishi Desai went viral in which he slammed President Donald Trump’s response to COVID-19.
The interview was aired on April 1 and has gone ‘viral’ on social media since then.
Desai vigorously shakes his head “no” when host Martha MacCallum says that “what we hear every night is that there are millions of tests available” but that a “pinprick test” everyone can get from their local doctor isn’t. “But they’re working on it,” she said.
Desai pointed out how quick South Korea was to jump on coronavirus testing compared to the U.S.
“Look at what South Korea did and what we did,” Desai told MacCallum. “Their population is one-sixth of ours. Look at the cases they have. Look at the mortality they have. It’s a trifle compared to what we’re dealing with right now because we’ve had a very weak response, and they had a really strong response.”
Desai also stressed that the U.S. should have paid much closer attention to what the World Health Organization (WHO) had to say about COVID-19, pointing out that it issued a warning on December 31, 2020.
“We knew coronavirus was coming,” Desai told MacCallum. “We knew that it was respiratory disease. We knew it was person-to-person.”
Desai is currently serving as Chief Medical Officer at Osmosis is a former Epidemic Intelligence Service Officer at Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) – a US federal agency responsible for responding first on matters related to public health in the US.
The presenter, Martha MacCallum, was asking Desai about why is there a need for a country-wide shutdown. Desai explained about how the US response was scattered.
“The problem right now is that it’s all voluntary. Some states are doing it other states are not, more and more states are doing it but it’s all voluntary and as long as it continues to be voluntary not mandated we’re gonna continue to see the cases rise that’s what people mean by flatten the curves,” said Desai.
But things got serious when MacCallum asked Desai about his call for massive large-scale testing.
Desai is a frequent guest on a variety of national news programs, including CNBC, because of his expert credentials on infectious diseases and his prior work at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as an epidemic intelligence service officer.
He is the chief medical officer at Osmosis, a Baltimore-based company that makes educational videos for the medical industry and is also creating training videos to help people out of work move into entry-level jobs in the healthcare industry.
Is Desai COVID-19 positive?
Dr. Rishi Desai is almost certain he has the coronavirus himself.
In an interview with the Bay Area News Group on Thursday, Dr. Desai said that over the past two weeks, he has experienced fever reaching 101 degrees, shortness of breath and coughing.
“I’m convinced I had COVID-19,” Desai, 39, said Thursday in a phone interview.
Although he is improving and no longer has a fever, he ordered a blood test kit that will show whether he still is or had been infected, he said. He expects to receive it next week.
Desai has isolated himself in his Alameda County apartment for the past two weeks and continued to appear in his home office on numerous national news programs and livestreams as an infectious disease expert. Although he was coughing during some of them, he said, he never mentioned his self-diagnosis until Thursday.
“Everyone is going to be touched in profound ways, either family members or your jobs,” Desai said. “Many people are undiagnosed and there are many people who haven’t been tested. These numbers are likely to climb.”
