With top officials in the White House declaring the mission accomplished in slowing the spread of the coronavirus, the nation’s leading infectious disease expert is sounding a more cautious note.
What We Know:
- Dr. Anthony Fauci, the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases stated on Tuesday, that there is no need to talk about avoiding a second wave of the pandemic because the country is still in the first one.
- Fauci’s comments, which came during an interview with The Daily Beast on Tuesday, rang far different to the triumphant tune sung by Mike Pence that same day in Iowa. The vice president touted lower death counts and exclaimed “We did it!” with respect to flattening the curve. And they come as counties across the country, including states such as Arizona, California, North Carolina, Alabama, and South Carolina continue to see coronavirus cases and related hospitalizations increase.
“New York, unfortunately, really got hit by surprise, because they had activity coming into this city from Europe when everybody was focusing on China. They all of a sudden found that they had a massive outbreak. I don’t think that could happen under today’s circumstances of our full awareness of the potential of this virus, which is highly transmissible.” – Fauci
- “When you start to see the inevitable exceptions that you might see when you try to pull back on the mitigation and open up … use public health measures to help you to get to your goal,” Fauci said. “Namely, if you get new infections, you put into place, the manpower, the system … the ability to identify, isolate and contact-trace so that you’re actually utilizing public health measures to help you to open up.”
- Fauci did not sugarcoat his anxiety about his boss- President Donald Trump – moving forward with plans to hold large-scale events, including cities with new or recurring outbreaks such as Tulsa, Oklahoma and Phoenix, Arizona. When asked if he would personally attend, Fauci said “No.”
- Fauci’s comments come at a political inflection point with respect to the pandemic. With increasing case numbers, public health experts around the country have begun calling for the consideration of secondary lockdowns. But many acknowledge that it may not seem tenable for any state leader to actually order one.
- Scientists and doctors have said repeatedly that until a vaccine for the coronavirus hits the market, the risk of the infection spreading will continue in communities across the nation. Fauci noted that companies have signaled to the administration that a vaccine would not be ready until the first quarter of 2021.
- Fauci’s interview came in the middle of a renewed media tour. The infectious disease specialist had been a regular presence on television and in the White House briefing room during the early stages of the pandemic. But in recent weeks his public speaking had been limited as had his conversations with Trump.
- He acknowledged that things are different now than when he faced other public health crises. And here is what has made his job more difficult: the politicization of the virus.
U.S. Vice President Mike Pence claimed in an op-ed article for The Wall Street Journal this week that fears over a second wave were “overblown” and said “we are winning the fight against the invisible enemy.”
