Fox News anchor Harris Faulkner took issue with a panelist on her daytime political talk show who criticized the program for not devoting more time to discussion on the rising number of coronavirus deaths in the country.
“We’re 43 minutes into this show and we haven’t mentioned that 3,000 Americans died yesterday. More than on 9/11,” said panelist Marie Harf, a former Democratic staffer who often serves as a liberal panelist on Fox News’s program “Outnumbered.”
“So, I agree that the regulations should be driven by science, I’ve also always said that outdoor is much safer than indoor [dining],” she said.
Harf added that public health officials are “not perfect” but they are “trying” to slow the spread of the coronavirus and said Americans “cannot lose sight of the tragedy that is unfolding in the country, in large part because people want to go about life as normal, and a lot of people don’t want to wear masks even though the evidence is overwhelming that they save lives.”
Before moving to a new topic, Faulkner responded to Harf’s comment.
“I feel like Marie, you took a shot at us there,” Faulkner said. “But if you don’t think that our hearts are big enough to mourn for the people who we have lost during the pandemic, what exactly are you trying to say? That is offensive and is not true.”
Faulkner argued the best way to “protect those people we love so much is to make sure the decisions that we make give them longevity after the pandemic as well.”
The host went after Harf directly, saying “Please, keep your judgement some place where you know you can fact check it because you can’t see my heart. And trust me when I tell you it hurts all of us to lose those Americans and people around the world.”
Most media outlets have in recent weeks been covering extensively the frustrations on the part of businesses as state and local governments implement new public health measures to curb a wave of coronavirus infections through the holidays.