Fauci Breaks with Cuomo, Calling His Latest COVID Proposal 'Draconian'
Dr. Anthony Fauci broke with Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, saying that the governor’s latest coronavirus restriction proposal was “draconian.”
Cuomo criticized the federal government on Monday for not following the lead of over 30 countries and restricting flights from Britain where a new strain of COVID-19 has been discovered, CNS News reported.
“Why don’t we act intelligently for a change?” the New York Democrat asked.
“Why don’t we mandate testing before people get on a flight, or halt the flights from the U.K. now? Many other countries have done this.”
Three airlines — Delta, Virgin Atlantic and British Airways — that fly from Britain to New York have reportedly agreed to require their passengers to have a negative coronavirus test before being allowed to board, according to Simple Flying.
Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Health’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, advised against “overreacting” to the news that a new coronavirus variant had been discovered in the United Kingdom, CNN reported.
“These types of viruses tend to mutate a lot,” he said.
“Most of the mutations have no functional relevance. This one has a suggestion that it might allow the virus to spread more readily. We’re still seeking out evidence to prove or disprove that.”
“But let’s make an assumption that it is in fact making the virus more transmissible — even though it hasn’t been proven yet — it doesn’t seem at all to have any impact on the virulence, or what we call the deadliness of the virus,” he added.
“It doesn’t make people more sick, and it doesn’t seem to have any impact on the protective nature of the vaccines that we’re currently using”
Fauci said that he “wouldn’t be surprised” if it was already in the United States.
When asked if he thought enforcing a travel ban from the U.K. would be necessary, he said there wasn’t enough evidence at this time to do so.
“It might be premature to do that,” he said. “I don’t think that kind of draconian approach is necessary.”
This break from the New York governor is surprising after the two appeared to be very friendly, and Cuomo compared himself and Fauci to iconic actors Robert De Niro and Al Pacino in a news conference earlier this month.
U.S Health and Human Services assistant secretary Brett Giroir told CNN that they are waiting on recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention before doing anything about the new coronavirus strain.
“Every hour we get more information. I think, as we have done and we need to do, we need to listen to the best experts,” he said.
“I think everything is possible. We just need to put everything on the table, have an open scientific discussion and make a best recommendation.”
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