Fauci says US hit hard by coronavirus because it never really shut down

Source: The Hill | September 10, 2020 | Alexandra Kelley

Too many people remained socially active despite warnings, he says.

Introduced as the “international face of science and truth,” infectious diseases expert Anthony Fauci spoke at the Harvard Medical School’s Grand Rounds webinar Thursday where he traced the scientific evolution of the novel coronavirus from when it emerged as a respiratory infection in Wuhan, China, to its escalation into a global pandemic.

Confirming that the U.S. has been the worst hit country in the world during the pandemic, Fauci attributes the lack of success the U.S. has had in containing the outbreak as stemming from the fact that the country never really shut down. 

Presenting data comparing the government responses between the U.S., Spain and Italy, Fauci cited measures such as visits to parks and outdoor spaces, people returning to workplaces and visits to grocery stores and pharmacies. The U.S. population showed a consistently higher percentage of people continuing these activities amid the pandemic as opposed to the populations of Spain and Italy, indicating that the country never fully shut down.

Interestingly, Fauci said that he received pushback from “people in our government” about this explanation until he found the data proving the U.S. population was more active than contemporary countries. 

While the U.S. has hit a new low of about 36,000 cases a day, Fauci emphasizes that this is still an “extraordinarily unacceptable baseline if you’re thinking of so-called opening the economy and entering into the fall and relatively soon winter season.” 

Pointing out that a serious surge in new coronavirus infections occurred over the summer in states like Florida, Arizona, Texas and parts of Southern California, coinciding with activity during holidays like the 4th of July and Memorial Day, Fauci warns of a similar surge during the fall.

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