Top US Health Official Projects Coronavirus Timeline: 'From a Few Weeks to Up to 8 Weeks or More'
One of the nation’s leading scientists on infectious diseases says Americans should expect to see their lives disrupted to some degree for up to eight weeks or longer because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, who is working on the Trump administration’s coronavirus task force, appeared on ABC’s “Good Morning America” Friday to discuss the potential social implications of the coronavirus, or COVID-19.
When asked about school closures and other public gatherings being canceled nationwide, Fauci — director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases — said Americans should be prepared for similar or even stronger measures to promote social isolation as the scientific community continues its assessment and response to the pandemic.
“It’s going to be at least a matter of several weeks,” he said. “I mean it’s unpredictable, but if you look at historically, how these things work, it’ll likely be anywhere from a few weeks to up to eight weeks or more.”
Adding he hoped it would take only two to four weeks for health officials and government agencies to mitigate and contain the spread of the coronavirus, Fauci added, “It’s really impossible to make an accurate prediction.”
“It’s certainly going to get worse before it gets better,” he said.
“We’re at a critical point now, more in some regions of the country than in others, but in general, the kinds of things that are going on will hopefully make that blunting of that peak so that we could save a lot of lives,” Fauci said.
“There is no doubt that we have not peaked yet,” he added
“It’s certainly going to get worse before it gets better.” NIH official Dr. Anthony Fauci says it could be up to “eight weeks or more” of shutdowns and working from home as COVID-19 cases continue to surge in the U.S. https://t.co/OSp7OkbziN pic.twitter.com/bS1IQiAy58
— Good Morning America (@GMA) March 13, 2020
When asked if Americans should expect a gradual shutdown of public life — similar to what has gone on in countries hit especially hard by the virus, such as Italy and South Korea — Fauci said it was difficult to predict.
“I’m not sure we’re going to get to that. I think that would be really rather dramatic, but I can tell you that all things are on the table. We just have to respond as things evolve over the days and over the weeks,” he said.
Fauci also said he agreed with school closures in regions of the country reporting a high number of cases, as long as they are done “proportionately” in order to prevent children and teens from spreading the disease to more-vulnerable older people.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says older adults and people with chronic medical conditions such as heart disease, diabetes and lung disease are at a higher risk of complications from COVID-19 than younger, generally healthy people.
Six states have now ordered all K-12 schools closed in an attempt to contain the spread of the virus.
USA Today reported Ohio, Maryland, Oregon, New Mexico, Michigan and West Virginia have closed all schools, as have some of the country’s largest cities.
Fauci told lawmakers Thursday that he expects the death toll from the virus to rise significantly.
“This is a really serious problem that we have to take seriously,” he said during a congressional hearing of the thousands of cases now being reported.
“The flu has a mortality of 0.1 percent. This has a mortality of 10 times that. And that’s the reason why I want to emphasize we have to stay ahead of the game in preventing this,” Fauci said.
“It’s certainly going to get worse before it gets better.” NIH official Dr. Anthony Fauci says it could be up to “eight weeks or more” of shutdowns and working from home as COVID-19 cases continue to surge in the U.S. https://t.co/OSp7OkbziN pic.twitter.com/bS1IQiAy58
— Good Morning America (@GMA) March 13, 2020
CBS News reported Friday that 128,000 cases of the virus have been reported globally and more than 4,700 people have now died.
The death toll includes 42 Americans.
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