AUSTIN (Talk1370.com) -- Texas Lt. Gov Dan Patrick says "no thank you, Dr. Fauci" when it comes to taking advice from the nation's top infectious disease expert.
Patrick, appearing Tuesday night on Fox News Channel with Laura Ingraham, dismissed comments from Dr. Anthony Fauci, who spoke Tuesday on Capitol Hill.
Watch the latest video at"Fauci said today that he's concerned about states like Texas that skipped over certain things," Patrick said. "He doesn't know what he's talking about. We haven't skipped over anything. The only thing I'm skipping over is listening to him. I don't need his advice any more."
Patrick went on to talk about the state's ICU capacity. "We have 7,177 ICU beds in Texas. And today, of those beds, about 1500 are COVID patients. About 25 percent of the people in the ICU," Patrick said.
Tuesday, Texas reported nearly 7,000 new cases of COVID-19, as well as a new record of hospitalizations across the state.
"We’ll listen to a lot of science, we’ll listen to a lot of doctors and Governor Abbott, myself and other state leaders will make the decision — no thank you, Dr. Fauci," Patrick said.
In the interview, Patrick put his support behind Gov. Greg Abbott's executive order last week once again closing Texas bars to help stop the spread of COVID-19. "We stepped back on the bars, which I think was the right decision," Patrick said. "All of these cases are primarily young. They're not getting seriously ill but they're taking up hospital space. That was a smart move."
Patrick also pushed back on the prospect of closing down the state's economy again. "In my view, the worst thing we could do is to lock down Texas again," Patrick said. "That's not what Gov. Abbott wants, that's not what I want, that's not what anyone wants in business or in the Republican party, but I can tell you we need help from the young people out there to help bring these numbers of cases down and free up hospital beds."