With record numbers of coronavirus cases jolting all corners of the country into mitigation, Anthony Fauci, of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) points to the cornerstones of public health policies: social distancing and wearing face masks.
“Best game. Don't go to a crowded place. Second best. Wear a mask if you do and you feel compelled to do it,” he told Vice’s Shane Smith on the outlet’s Shelter in Place series.
The leading infectious disease expert acknowledged Americans have felt stifled indoors and under lockdown.
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“It’s the free spirit of people in the United States, who understandably felt so cooped up for so long, jobs were lost, the economy went down, so that was almost an all-or-none revolution saying either were going from shutdown to all bets are off,” he said.
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However, Fauci reiterated that any congregation will only increase the risk of transmission and infection. To mitigate the damage, he urges people to wear masks.
“[When] you congregate in crowds, you are increasing the risk of being infected and of transmitting infection. This is particularly true if you don't wear a mask. Now we know that things like people demonstrating for things that they feel strongly about for issues of social injustice, which are very valid,” he explained. “Whatever you congregate for and you don't pay attention to physical distancing, you're increasing the risk of infection. If that is the case, which is not optimal, but if it is the case, the least you can do is to consistently wear a mask.”
Fauci says that leaving a mask on in close contact with people will help limit the amount of aerosols released into the air, and thereby reduce the spread of coronavirus particles.
Although a growing number of Americans are saying they wear masks either due to state requirements or fear of infection, the U.S. is one of the countries struggling to flatten the curve of new infections. With comparisons to other countries frequenting news cycles, Fauci said that these contrasts aren’t always straightforward.
“Although it is always easy to say we could have done — and I admit we always could have done things a little better, I think it is a little inappropriate and unfair to say ‘look, they had thousands, we have millions of cases.’ It’s different from country to country.”
He noted that in some Asian countries, specifically China, underreporting COVID-19 data and statistics is a possibility that needs to be taken into account.
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“With all due respect to so many of my Chinese scientific colleagues who we've worked with over the years and who we have a great deal of respect for, the transparency about numbers in China,” he explained. “I think you have to be careful if you extrapolate numbers and say they only have X number of cases and X number of deaths.”
Fauci also clarified that the Chinese government exercised lockdowns that are impossible in the U.S., a country with stronger human rights liberties.
“You have to look at what China did in the beginning that we never would be able to do in a democratic place where people have a free spirit, namely essentially completely lock down a country,” he explained. “I mean, in a way that was very imposing on human rights. We'd never be able to do that in this country.”
For the U.S. to successfully move forward and continue weakening the virus transmission, Fauci urges states experiencing higher rates of infection to implement resources to help identify and isolate positive infections. Incorporating strong contact tracing is also a critical component of controlling the spread.
Abiding by the guidelines laid out by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for states to reopen is a critical facet of containing future outbreaks. Failing to do so will yield more spikes in cases that are currently occurring across the country. From here, when reopening begins carefully, increases in cases can be tapered down before they become widespread surges.
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This strategy will be crucial when moving into the fall and winter.
“If you handle the return of infections as we get into the winter months, which might happen, that you do it in a way that effectively prevents it from becoming a surge.”
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