Dr. Anthony Fauci, a member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force and the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, predicted the next few weeks are going to be “critical” in addressing the rise of coronavirus cases across the United States.
Appearing before the Energy and Commerce Committee during the “Oversight of the Trump Administration’s Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic” hearing, Fauci addressed how the nation has been handling the pandemic and what that means for the sudden surge in coronavirus infections.
While Fauci acknowledged how some regions have successfully contained the outbreak, he pointed out the rise in community spread.
“However, in other areas of the country, we’re now seeing a disturbing surge of infections that looks like it’s a combination, but one of the things is an increase in community spread and that’s something that I’m really quite concerned about,” Fauci said.
Check out his comments below:
Fauci on coronavirus in US: "If you look at how we've been hit, we've been hit badly. We've had now over 120,000 deaths and 2.5 million infections. So it's a serious situation… the next couple weeks are going to be critical in our ability to address those surges we are seeing" pic.twitter.com/VIY9qr3BT4
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) June 23, 2020
According to Fauci, it is crucial states address the rise in infections sooner rather than later.
“Right now, the next couple of weeks are going to be critical in our ability to address those surgings that we’re seeing in Florida, in Texas, in Arizona, and in other states,” Fauci said.
Fauci called the nation’s response to the outbreak a “mixed bag.”
He recognized how New York has been successful in bringing the number of coronavirus cases down by following the recommended guidelines for reopening.
New York has been hit with coronavirus cases the hardest out of any state across the nation.
As of Tuesday afternoon, there are nearly 394,000 confirmed coronavirus cases in New York and close to 31,000 deaths.
Fauci also took the opportunity during the hearing to respond to President Donald Trump’s request that officials slow down testing to lower the number of coronavirus cases, as IJR previously reported.
He told the committee that “none of the health experts were asked to do so.”