Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Dr. Anthony Fauci, has warned that if we can not get the coronavirus “globally under control,” it is likely to become a recurring problem.
Officials have warned that the coming week is expected to be a bad one with the number of deaths increasing a “shocking” degree but social distancing should help flatten the curve.
On CBS’ “Face the Nation” Fauci said, “Unless we get this globally under control there’s a very good chance that it will assume a seasonal nature.”
Dr. Fauci said that people must be prepared for the virus to make a comeback next year, which is why officials fighting the pandemic are pushing for a vaccine and clinical trials so “we will have interventions that we did not have” when this started.
On “Fox News Sunday” Sergeon General Jerome Adams warned that that the outbreak’s projection for this week shows that the death toll could be of historic proportions. Fauci echoed this attitude but erred on the side of optimism saying that things may improve soon after.
Fauci said, “well, this is going to be a bad week,” but added that “we should hope that within a week, maybe a little bit more, we should see a flattening out of the curve and coming down.”
Currently, most states in the U.S. have stay-at-home orders that restrict people from going out in public. For those states without these orders, Fauci emphasized the need for social distancing.
He reiterated this by using examples of avoiding movies and crowds of ten people, as well as the 6-foot rule. “Please take a look at those very simple guidelines of physical separation,” he said.
“Even in areas where you’re not having a big explosion of cases, to the best of your ability do that. Because this virus doesn’t discriminate whether you’re in a small town in relatively secluded areas of the country versus whether you’re in a big city. And sooner or later, you’re going to see a surge of cases. So I would urge people to please take a look at that,” he said.
