During an interview with the Journal of the American Medical Association on Monday, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases noted that this troubling trend mirrors the “insidious” rise that the Sun Belt region witnessed last month before new cases started to surge.
Fauci advised states to reexamine where they are in the process of reopening businesses and schools.
“You may need to pause, you may need to drop back a little bit,” he said. “I don’t think you necessarily have to revert to go all the way back to reclosing.”
The country’s top infectious disease expert also urged the public to continue to wear face masks and coverings and avoid any large indoor crowds, especially in bars and restaurants.
“Outdoor is always better than indoor if you want to do any kind of function,” Fauci said.
“It’s in our hands, as I’ve said so many times. You have the dynamics of the virus if left to its own devices is going to keep resurging. The only way to stop it is by what we do… as a countermeasure against it.”
Fauci added that he is glad to see the Trump administration at least making an effort to push the general public to wear face masks and coverings.
“I’m very pleased to see that the president is wearing a mask more now,” he said.
“The vice president, and I know I’m with him a fair amount, wears a mask when he goes out and is in a situation where masks are needed. We need more of that consistency.”
Fauci’s remarks come on the heels of Dr. Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus task force coordinator, warning that the United States has entered a “new phase” in the months-long fight against the pandemic. Nearly 20,000 more Americans could die in the next twenty days, according to a new composite forecast from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
There are now more than 18.3 million confirmed cases of coronavirus worldwide, including at least 695,000 deaths, according to the latest data from Johns Hopkins University.
The U.S. has the most cases by far, with nearly 4.7 million confirmed infections and more than 156,000 deaths.
Anthony Fauci: There’s ‘a degree’ of Airborne Spread of Coronavirus
Scientists are still learning more about this means of transmission.
White House coronavirus advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, has said that he believes there is, in fact, “a degree” of airborne spread of the coronavirus.
“I think that there certainly is a degree of aerosolization,” the seventy-nine-year-old director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases said during an interview with the Journal of the American Medical Association on Monday.
“But I’m going to take a step back and make sure that we learn the facts before we start talking about it.”
Most health experts, including those at the World Health Organization and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, initially said that individuals need to worry chiefly about two types of transmission: inhaling respiratory droplets from an infected person nearby and touching a contaminated surface and then your eyes, nose or mouth.
In July, the WHO decided to publish new guidance that acknowledged it could not rule out the possibility the coronavirus could be transmitted through airborne particles in indoor spaces.
According to the agency, airborne transmission is different from droplet transmission. Airborne transmission refers to the presence of extremely small particles that can remain in the air for long periods of time and has the potential to be transmitted to others over distances greater than one meter.
Fauci admitted that it has become “much clearer” that individuals are likely at greater risk of infection if they’re in poorly ventilated rooms, buses, planes and other confined spaces.
“We need to pay a little bit more attention now to the recirculation of air indoors, which tells you that mask-wearing indoors when you’re in a situation like that is something that is as important as wearing masks when you’re outside dealing with individuals who you don’t know where they came from or who they are,” Fauci said.
“It’s something we’re learning more and more about. We’ve got to make sure that we’re humble enough to accumulate new knowledge and use it as we get it.”
There are now more than 18.3 million confirmed cases of coronavirus worldwide, including at least 695,000 deaths, according to the latest data from Johns Hopkins University.
The United States has the most cases by far, with nearly 4.7 million confirmed infections and more than 155,000 deaths.
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