Posted on 04/12/2020 1:06:52 PM PDT by NobleFree
White House health advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci on Sunday expressed “cautious optimism” that the deadly coronavirus outbreak is slowing down in the United States, and said that parts of the country may start to reopen as soon as May.
Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, warned on CNN’s “State of the Union” that the entire country won’t suddenly turn back on like a “light switch.”
But there are “indications” that some of the metrics used to gauge the crisis “are starting to level off” in some areas, he said.
Asked when parts of the U.S. could start to relax some of their strict social-distancing measures, Fauci said that the process could probably begin “at least in some ways, maybe next month.”
Fauci’s hopeful remarks came less than a day after the U.S. counted more than 20,000 deaths from the disease, surpassing Italy as the nation with the highest number of recorded deaths in the world. More than 530,000 people in the U.S. have tested positive for COVID-19, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
New York’s metropolitan area, the epicenter of the outbreak in the U.S., posted its highest single-day death tolls this past week. But even as the death count climbs higher, other metrics such as hospitalizations, intensive-care check-ins and intubations started to flatten and seem to be “starting to turn the corner,” Fauci said.
Health experts like Fauci note that the number of deaths from the coronavirus will tend to lag behind the number of infections and hospitalizations, meaning that evidence of progress can be found even when the virus is at its peak of lethality.
“Once you turn that corner, hopefully we’ll see a very sharp decline,” Fauci said.
In other states with less severe outbreaks than New York, Fauci said that at the end of the month “we can look around and say, ‘OK, is there any element here that we can safely and cautiously start pulling back on?’ If so, do it. If not, then just continue to hunker down.”
Fauci appeared on CNN on Easter Sunday, when President Donald Trump previously said he hoped the country would be reopened to allow for people to gather in “packed churches” for the Christian holiday. After those remarks, however, the White House extended its social distancing guidelines through the end of April.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services projected that lifting states’ extreme containment measures – such as ordering residents to stay home and closing schools and nonessential businesses – after just 30 days would lead to an infection spike this summer, The New York Times reported.
Fauci is just telling us what people are going to do anyway with or without his approval. This country should be open in three weeks.
This country should never have been shut down.
I’ve heard Texas is going to partially open tomorrow. I think many states could follow suit.
Thank Heavens for President Trump.
Everyone makes mistakes, including our President.
He can either run to the front of the parade and pretend to lead it, or he can run to the front of the parade, attempt to stop it, and be trampled.
He’s a kind person who loves people, and didn’t want anyone to die.
Trump had to error on the side of caution.
First..who elected Fauci, President?
Secondly, all businesses with maybe the exception of bars and restaurants should reopen at the end of the month, in all States. This means clothing stores, barbers and salons, etc.
Kids have NOT been affected by this bug. Reopen schools and require teachers to self quarantine as best they can until the end of the year.
If you get sick, get tested, get the medication available (yes those) and take two weeks off. Let’s get on with living.
Sounds like someone with brains talked “too” Fauci.
History will show that the virus peaked last week.
Trump told him its going to happen May 1. So he’s getting out in front, so it will look like its his idea, unless it goes wrong. Then it will be Trump’s idea.
But he is telling us its coming to an end.
Carlos Osweda on Twitter (aka it may or may not be Thomas Wictor) gave me a knew persepctive via his lastest tweet yesterday. He theorizes PDJT saw the horizon and the curve but also knew every patient for everything they do to them takes like 3 changes of Personal Protection with this outbreak. As he theorizes we would have been swamped, normal emergency patients, and I guess co-mingled with Cov19 folks and totally run out of PP. The delay / we are going to be fine talk was to buy time to ramp up.
Interesting theory.
Let us not even buy friggen underwear from the CCP going forward. I have lost one distant family member, and a 2nd who was getting better has relapsed, this is personal...
Listening to him is like trying to tack a moth to the wall.
I think you are correct. All it will take is for one Gov with guts and no fear of the scumedia to do what’s right and the others will follow.
Trump was an absolute genius to leave the shut downs up to the individual States. It removes 99% of the ammunition the scumedia has to attack him when it happens (not that they won’t try)
The ONLY people dying in numbers of any consequence are those 70 and over with serious pre existing conditions. Keep them home, put them on the HCQ + Zinc and lets get back to work.
The great Caesar has spoken!
This guy has become way to big for his britches.
Thank you Dr Mengula.
Weren't the shutdowns caused by individual governors and mayors? The President restricted outside travel from other countries and provided aid to states. But governors (mainly Democrats) shut down areas like California and New York (and late in the spread).
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