A medical expert on Covid-19, Dr. Anthony Fauci goes against Biden’s new Covid chief, saying the US does not need to go into a six-week national lockdown, as ‘help is really on the way’ with all Americans set to get access to a vaccine by April.
This was reported by Andrew Court.
Joe Biden’s new COVID-19 advisor has proposed a nationwide lockdown of up to six weeks, to stop the spread of the virus.
However, Dr. Fauci says such extreme action will not be necessary as long as citizens continue to wear face masks, observe social distancing and wash their hands.
He cites that there is ‘no appetite’ among the American public for another lockdown, claiming that most ordinary US citizens will be able to access a vaccine in the first half of next year, which will help slow the spread.
Meanwhile, the country reported 144,133 new coronavirus cases last Wednesday – the highest daily number on record.
The number of hospitalizations across the US also continues to spike to single-day highs with more than 65,000 patients currently being treated.
According to one report, ‘about 1 out of every 1,500 people in South Dakota is currently in hospital with COVID-19’, just as
cases are on the rise again in New Jersey and New York, which have implemented new restrictions on restaurants, bars and gyms.
On New York City, Mayor Bill de Blasio has threatened to shut down public schools which would throw 1.1 million students into chaos.
Dr. Anthony Fauci contends that, the US does not need to go into a six-week national lockdown, contradicting a proposal by President-elect Joe Biden’s new COVID-19 advisor.
Biden’s hire, Dr. Michael Osterholm, hit headlines on Wednesday, claiming that a lengthy lockdown may be the best way to keep hospitalizations and deaths down as the country experiences a surge in coronavirus infections.
But in an interview with newsmen, on Thursday, Fauci stated that he did not believe such extreme action was necessary as long as people would adhere to public health measures like mask-wearing, hand-washing and social distancing.
‘We would like to stay away from that because there’s no appetite for locking down the American public, ‘ Fauci argues in the interview.
‘You don’t necessarily have to shut everything down.
The best opposite strategy to locking down is to intensify the public health measures. If you can do that well, you don’t have to take that step of lockdown, which he explains, has so many implications both psychologically and economically’.
Fauci strikes a hopeful tone throughout the interview, also saying that ‘help is really on the way’ in the form of a vaccine.
‘The cavalry is coming… Vaccines are going to have a major positive impact,’ he vowed.
The infectious diseases expert states, that he believes ‘the ordinary citizen’ should be able to access the vaccine by April of next year.
However, later in the day, Fauci had said that, it was unlikely a vaccine would completely eradicate the spread of COVID-19.
‘Certainly it’s not going to be pandemic for a lot longer because I believe the vaccines are going to turn that around,’ Fauci states.
‘[However] I doubt we’re going to eradicate this, I think we need to plan that this is something we may need to maintain control over chronically. It may be something that becomes endemic that we have to just be careful about.’
Fauci’s comments come as the US reports a record high number of COVID-19 infections.
On Wednesday, a staggering 144,133 new cases were reported across the country, taking the total number of infected Americans to 10.4 million.
On the same day, 1,893 citizens died from the disease – the highest number of fatalities since May 8.
The US death toll now stands at 241,808.
The number of hospitalizations across the US also continues to spike to single-day highs with more than 65,000 patients currently being treated.
The alarming numbers might have prompted the Biden’s new advisor on Covid-19, to propose plans for a strict nationwide lockdown.
On Wednesday, he was quoted as saying, ‘We could pay for a package right now to cover all of the wages, lost wages for individual workers for losses to small companies to medium-sized companies or city, state, county governments. We could do all of that. If we did that, then we could lockdown for four-to-six weeks.’
Osterholm suggested Wednesday that such a lockdown would bring the US in line with the likes of New Zealand and Australia where new daily cases have been reduced to under ten cases.
However, a new Gallup poll reveals more than half of surveyed Americans say they won’t comply with another long-term lockdown
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Infections across the country hit a record high of 144,133 cases on Wednesday.
New cases have continued to soar to all-time highs of more than 120,000 per day over the past week.
The US death toll spiked to 1,893 on Wednesday, which was the highest number of fatalities since May 8 during the initial peak of the outbreak. The average number of deaths, which are a lagging indicator and can potentially rise weeks after infections, are still down from the peak 2,000 fatalities recorded per day in the spring.
The average number of deaths, which are a lagging indicator and can potentially rise weeks after infections, are still down from the peak 2,000 fatalities recorded per day in the spring.
Reports show that, infection rates in key US states as compared to major countries in Western Europe, with Wisconsin currently seeing a higher infection rate than France, Spain or Britain, with Wisconsin currently seeing a higher infection rate than France, Spain or Britain.
Midwestern states, including North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin, are currently seeing a surge in fatalities – weeks after cases and hospitalizations started to spike in those regions.
About 1 out of every 1,500 people in South Dakota is currently in hospital with COVID-19′.
The state’s governor, Kristi Noem, has been vehemently opposed to lockdowns.
Meanwhile, other states also reported grim milestones on Wednesday.
Texas became the first state with more than 1 million confirmed COVID-19 cases. California follows closely behind with more than 984,000 cases.
Cases are also rising at an alarming rate in the northeast, where officials boasted about flattening the coronavirus curve just a few short months ago.
In New York City, the average positivity rate reached 2.5 percent on Wednesday.
Coronavirus patients occupy the greatest percentage of hospital beds of any states in North and South Dakota, Health and Human Services data shows, though it tends to lag and North Dakota now says its hospitals are at 100% capacity as of Wednesday.
The number of hospitalizations across the US also continues to spike to single-day highs with more than 65,000 patients currently being treated.
The news prompted New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo to announce he was pulling back the opening hours of bars, restaurants and gyms to 10pm daily.
‘If these measures aren’t sufficient to reduce the spread — we’ll turn the valve more and part of that would be reducing the number of people indoor dining,’ Cuomo stated at a press conference.
Meanwhile, New York City public schools will be completely shut down if the city reaches a 3 percent positivity rate.
The system currently has more than 1.1 million students who would be forced to return to remote learning until the numbers improve.
In neighboring New Jersey, cases are also continuing to rise. On Wednesday, the state reported 3,078 new infections.
Gov. Phil Murphy said yesterday, that a second wave of the virus is ‘definitely upon us’ and ‘everything is heading in the wrong direction’.
In a similar move to Gov Cuomo, Gov. Murphy has ordered all restaurants, bars, clubs and lounges to stop indoor dining by 10pm. He is also banning all interstate games and tournaments for indoor K-12 sports.
Cuomo orders all gyms, bars and restaurants to shut by 10pm.
More than half of Americans say they WON’T comply with another lockdown.
More than half of Americans say it’s likely they won’t comply with another month-long lockdown despite 61% believing that the virus is getting worse, according to a new Gallup poll.
Only 49% said they would be very likely to abide by new lockdown restrictions.
In comparison, 67% said they would shelter-in-place when the pandemic began in late March and early April.
The poll shows that 33% of Americans would be very or somewhat unlikely to comply with another lockdown.
About 18% said they would be somewhat likely to follow advice for health officials.
Even though a third of the respondents say they are less likely to abide by new lockdown restrictions if any are implemented, the majority of the participants revealed that they believed the outbreak was only going to get worse.
A total of 61% of Americans believe the situation is getting worse compared to 40% in April.
