you can't enter into the cool months of the fall and the coal months of the winter with a high community infection, baseline and looking at the map and seeing the heat map how it lights up with test positivity that is in more than 30 plus states is going in the wrong direction because you kind of kind of think about the country as a gigantic forest. And when there's fires in one part of the forest, the other part of the forest is vulnerable. So if you want to get control of things, we've got to be consistent. We've got to do things with the ultimate purpose of getting control over the outbreak, and unfortunately, we haven't done that as well as I think we could. I think people are gonna have to make a choice of where they fit in the risk benefit ratio of having someone come in, maybe from out of town, who's been through a crowded airport to come into our home. Who do you have in the home are they're vulnerable people are there, the elderly, other people with underlying conditions. I think each family needs to think seriously about that and make a decision based on the level of risk that they wanna put themselves through. We've got to make sure we stick by and insist on the scientific standards that we put forth before we make a decision about whether something is safe and effective. We can't compromise. The public is trusting us. And if we really want to get into a problem of dissolution of trust, it would be to veer from sticking strictly to the scientific data and the scientific information.
COVID-19 crisis would have to be 'really, really bad' to implement a national lockdown, Fauci says
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Updated: 8:57 PM CDT Oct 18, 2020
Video above — Fauci: Infection baseline going in wrong directionDespite the U.S. seeing a rise in COVID-19 cases and deaths, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top disease expert, says that things would have to get "really, really bad" for him to advocate for a national lockdown.The U.S. is averaging more than 55,000 new cases a day — up more than 60% since a mid-September dip — and experts say the country is in the midst of the dreaded fall surge. On Friday, the U.S. reported the most infections in a single day since July. As of Saturday, more than 8.1 million cases of the virus had been reported in the U.S. and 219,666 people have died, according to Johns Hopkins University.With all the previous and current measures to offset the spread of the virus, "the country is fatigued with restrictions," said Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said during an interview on "60 Minutes" Sunday night."We want to use public health measures not to get in the way of opening the economy, but to being a safe gateway to opening the economy," Fauci told CBS during the interview."So instead of having an opposition, open up the economy, get jobs back, or shut down. No, put shut down away and say 'we're going to use public health measures to help us safely get to where we want to go.' "He added that it's not safe yet to say the country is "on the road to essentially getting out of this."There is nearly no place in America where COVID-19 case counts are trending in the right direction as the country heads into what health experts say will be the most challenging months of the pandemic.Only Missouri and Vermont recorded a more than 10% improvement in the average number of reported cases over the past week, according to the university's data. Cases in Connecticut and Florida, on the other hand, increased by 50% or more.Twenty-seven states saw spikes between 10% and 50%: Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming.New cases are static in the remaining states."This really is a harrowing time, and people have to be careful," epidemiologist Dr. Abdul El-Sayed said.
Video above — Fauci: Infection baseline going in wrong direction
Despite the U.S. seeing a rise in cases and deaths, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top disease expert, says that things would have to get "really, really bad" for him to advocate for a national lockdown.
The U.S. is averaging more than 55,000 new cases a day — up more than 60% since a mid-September dip — and experts say the country is in the midst of the dreaded fall surge. On Friday, the U.S. reported the most infections in a single day since July. As of Saturday, more than 8.1 million cases of the virus had been reported in the U.S. and 219,666 people have died, according to
With all the previous and current measures to offset the spread of the virus, "the country is fatigued with restrictions," said Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said during an interview on "60 Minutes" Sunday night.
"We want to use public health measures not to get in the way of opening the economy, but to being a safe gateway to opening the economy," Fauci told CBS during the interview.
"So instead of having an opposition, open up the economy, get jobs back, or shut down. No, put shut down away and say 'we're going to use public health measures to help us safely get to where we want to go.' "
He added that it's not safe yet to say the country is "on the road to essentially getting out of this."
There is nearly no place in America where case counts are trending in the right direction as the country heads into what health experts say will be the most challenging months of the pandemic.
Only Missouri and Vermont recorded a more than 10% improvement in the average number of reported cases over the past week, according to the university's data. Cases in Connecticut and Florida, on the other hand, increased by 50% or more.
Twenty-seven states saw spikes between 10% and 50%: Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming.
New cases are static in the remaining states.
"This really is a harrowing time, and people have to be careful," epidemiologist Dr. Abdul El-Sayed said.
