Fauci: Reopening the country immediately could have serious consequences [Video]

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• Top public health expert Dr. Anthony Fauci told the senate during a hearing testimony on Monday that the virus outbreak could be triggered if the US loosens the lockdown too soon. 
• He was also against reopening of schools as he noted that there was a recent research that says a strange inflammatory syndrome was found in some child cases.
• Fauci was on self-isolation for having been in contact with a White House officer who tested positive for COVID-19.

If the country relaxes the imposed restrictions immediately, there could be serious consequences, said Dr. Anthony Fauci, a key member of the White House coronavirus task force, during his Senate testimony on Tuesday. He also warned that the recorded COVID-19 death toll now is undercounted.

“My concern it (sic) that we will start to see little spikes that will turn into outbreaks,” he said. 

Fauci warned against reopening the states before local benchmarks such mass testing and contact tracing are fully operational.  

In most areas in the country, testing for asymptomatic people and contact tracing are inadequate.  

Fauci said: “There is a real risk that you will trigger an outbreak that you might not be able to control. Not only leading to some suffering and death, but it could even set you back on the road to get economic recovery.” 

In response to a question from Senator Bernie Sanders, Fauci said the 80,000 official death toll in the US was likely low. “Most of us feel that the number of deaths are likely higher than that number,” he said.  

Particularly in New York, he said that there may be people who have COVID but were not accounted for as they did not reach hospitals. 

Meanwhile, President Donald Trump encouraged American schools and businesses to reopen and the White House planned to come out with 100m vaccine doses by Autumn. However, Fauci thought neither a vaccine nor a drug treatment would be available in time to facilitate the reopening of schools. 

He opposed the reopening of schools on the assumption that children are safe from the disease. Fauci noted that in some child cases, there’s a recent documentation of a strange inflammatory syndrome. 

He said: “I think we better be very careful, if we are not cavalier, in thinking that children are completely immune to the deleterious effects.”  

The hearing was done via videoconference. Senator Lamar Alexander, the health committee chair being in self-isolation on news of a staffer testing positive, facilitated the meeting from his home in Tennessee. Sanders spoke from a home office. Other senators who attended physically wear masks and were spaced six feet apart from each other. 

Fauci testified remotely as he placed himself over self-quarantine over the weekend. He mentioned he came into contact with a White House staffer who was a COVID-19 positive. 

Source: The Guardian