Fauci Says Sense on Coronavirus Scope Is ‘Not Encouraging’ (1)
2020-03-08 17:46:41.543 GMT
By Elizabeth Dexheimer
(Bloomberg) — “Social distancing” will become more
prevalent in the U.S. over the next three months as the nation
attempts to tamp down the spread of the new coronavirus, Anthony
Fauci said Sunday.
“We’re getting a better sense as the days go by” of the
scope of the outbreak in the U.S., Fauci, director of the
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said on
NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “Unfortunately, that better sense is not
encouraging, because we’re seeing community spread.”
Also on Sunday, Scott Gottlieb, the former head of the U.S.
Food and Drug Administration, said the U.S. needs “a
comprehensive plan” for cities, with support from the federal
government.
Gottlieb and Fauci spoke as the Trump administration
remains under fire in some quarters for its response to the
fast-spreading virus — but a response that President Donald
Trump on Sunday called “perfectly coordinated and fine tuned.”
Donald J. Trump
@realDonaldTrump
We have a perfectly coordinated and fine tuned plan at the
White House for our attack on CoronaVirus. We moved VERY early
to close borders to certain areas, which was a Godsend. V.P. is
doing a great job. The Fake News Media is doing everything
possible to make us look bad. Sad!
The president is spending the weekend at his Florida
resort; on Friday he visited the headquarters of the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention, the hub of the federal effort to
combat the virus.
“If you’re a vulnerable person, take it seriously, because
particularly when you have community spread, you may not know at
any given time that there are people who are infected,” Fauci
said of the idea of social distancing, or actions that include
avoiding large gatherings. “It’s common-sense stuff.”
The “draconian” quarantine measures taken by China, while
they’ve worked to prevent a broader advance of the disease
beyond Wuhan province, are “something we never would be able to
do” in the U.S., he added. Italy also imposed more stringent
travel restrictions early Sunday.
“I don’t imagine that the degree of the draconian nature of
what the Chinese did would ever be either feasible, applicable,
doable or whatever you want to call it in the United States,”
Fauci said in an interview with CBS’s “60 Minutes” that will be
broadcast on Sunday, according to a partial transcript provided
by the network.
Read more on the coronavirus here.
“Even though there are a lot of things that have unintended
negative consequences of that, I think it did help dampen what
would have been” an even worse outbreak, Fauci said of China on
NBC. “Wuhan was terrible. But I think they prevented a broader
spread.”
The spread of the highly infectious virus continues to
advance across the globe. As of Sunday, about half of the
world’s countries have reported cases of Covid-19, according to
the World Health Organization. The global death count outside of
China is approaching 500.
Italy, Europe’s most hard-hit nation, said it’s restricting
movement and activity for a quarter of its population in the
region around the financial capital of Milan.
Fauci said a vaccine deployable against Covid-19 will not
be available “for at least a year to a year and a half.”
Tough Two Months
Gottlieb, who departed as Trump’s FDA commissioner in
April, said Sunday on CBS’s “Face the Nation” that the U.S. is
“past the point of containment and broad mitigation strategies.”
“The next few weeks will change the complexion in this
country,”said Gottlieb, who’s now a special partner at New
Enterprise Associates, a venture capital firm that invests in
the health-care and biotech sectors. “We’ll get through this,
but it’s going to be a hard period. We’re looking at two months,
probably, of difficulty.”
Gottlieb said he was still in talks with people in the
Trump administration, recommending that “a very big federal
bailout package” for businesses, individuals, cities and states
be done sooner rather than later.
Fauci said there was a “Glitch” in the original test kits.
Is that what we are calling colossal F-ups these days?
I don’t think there is a conspiracy theory at the CDC. But they not the ATeam.
“past the point of containment and broad mitigation strategies.”
Well. I hate to disagree but broad mitigation is still appropriate in many areas. Containment is no longer possible.
We do have to move on to mitigation and have, more will be coming.
2 to 3 months of a different world coming to us.
Unless the race, age and underlying medical history of those infected and affected by the CODIS-19 coronavirus is known, the current numbers released tell little about the infectivity of this virus and just who is likely to become severely ill. Thus far the CDC, while no doubt collecting such information, has not released the data either to the American people or health care professionals.
Thus far, while there has been extensive travel by thousands from the Wusan epicenter to multiple points in the United States, there have been no China or Korea type outbreaks. The region in Italy where the outbreak occurred is heavily populated with Chinese immigrants and Asian workers. Iran was transversed by the Silk Road and conquered by the Mongols. Many Africans and Caucasians lived and worked in Wusan yet few became ill and none were known to have died
Very politically incorrect to publicize or release data suggesting that Asians have a greater propensity to become infected and then seriously ill. However time will define the truth regarding COVID-19.
Scott Gottlieb, the former head of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, said the U.S. needs “a comprehensive plan” for cities, with support from the federal government....
Wait.....they're just now telling people that the 'sense is not encouraging....because they're seeing community spread'???? And, that we need a 'comprehensive plan'???
We were SCREAMING, here, about this....the community spread....for WEEKS!!
And....a 'comprehesive plan'.....just NOW???
Geez...this entire Fauci/Gottleib update is horrifying. We are so flocked!!
Not even if your life and that of your family, Mother, Father depended on it..??
Good post LF. Thanks!