While Trump has throughout the coronavirus outbreak sought to minimize it by comparing it to the seasonal flu, Fauci noted the novel coronavirus is significantly more lethal.

"I mean, people always say, well, the flu does this, the flu does that," Fauci said. "The flu has a mortality of 0.1 percent. This has a mortality rate of 10 times that. That's the reason I want to emphasize we have to stay ahead of the game in preventing this." [,...]

Fauci was asked specifically about Trump's hopeful statements that a vaccine could be ready in a matter of months. Though Fauci has repeatedly corrected the president by saying the real timetable is a year to 18 months, he was more direct Wednesday. "No," he said when asked about whether Trump's ideal timetable was feasible. "I made myself very clear in my opening statement."

Another member asked him about Trump's decision in 2018 to disband the White House's global health security team and put its duties under the control of the national security adviser.

"I wouldn't necessarily characterize it as a mistake," Fauci said diplomatically. But then he added, "I would say we worked very well with that office. It would be nice if the office was still there."

One of the most significant tonal departures from Trump for Fauci, though, came on the question of whether the United States should be canceling large gatherings. As events nationwide have been canceled, Trump said he would press forward with holding rallies and said having people assemble in large crowds "doesn't bother me at all, and it doesn't bother them at all." As noted in the tweet above, he also suggested on Monday that perhaps the economy needs us to pursue something amounting to business as usual.

Fauci, though, suggested events such as NBA games should not take place in packed arenas.

"We would recommend that there not be large crowds," Fauci said. "If that means not having any people in the audience when the NBA plays, so be it. But as a public health official, anything that has large crowds is something that would [cause] a risk to spread."