When can things return to normal from the coronavirus pandemic?
There may be no returning to "normal," according to Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infection diseases expert.
During a White House press briefing, Dr. Fauci explained that the COVID-19 virus already infected more than 360,000 Americans and led to more than 10,000 deaths across the country. These events can bring about permanent change.
"If back to normal means acting like there never was a coronavirus problem, I don't think that's going to happen,'' said Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
"If you want to get to pre-coronavirus, you know, that might not ever happen in the fact that the sense that the threat is there."
However, Fauci said that there are vaccines and therapies being developed. This gives him hope "that we will never have to get back to where we are right now."
Before, Fauci emphasized that without a vaccine, the coronavirus could still return every year. The only way to fully protect the public from the disease is by developing a vaccine. Meanwhile, health experts predict that it could take 12 to 18 months to create a vaccine.
When Trump announced that there will be an extension of social distancing and self-isolation measures, Dr. Fauci expressed his support.
Dr. Fauci explained that coronavirus infections and deaths have not started declining yet “within the time frame that was originally estimated.”
The doctor said in a CNN interview that he presented Trump with the data. The president agreed with his advice to place an extension on the guidelines through the end of April.
“It would not have been a good idea to pull back at a time when you really needed to be pressing your foot on the pedal as opposed to on the brakes,” Dr. Fauci said.
Fauci once revealed in a magazine interview that he and the president have differences sometimes.
Fauci is perceived as a sensible voice for the public as the coronavirus pandemic spreads throughout the country.
“Even though we disagree on some things, he listens. He goes his own way. He has his own style,” Fauci said in the Science magazine interview.
“He’s a good man. I like Dr. Fauci,” Trump said during a White House briefing where the doctor did not appear alongside him. “He’s not here because we weren’t discussing” issues that he is best at addressing, the president said.
Asked if Fauci agreed with Trump on the need to keep some of the travel and social distancing restrictions loose as a way to support the economy, Trump said: “He does not agree.”
Coronavirus spread across the U.S.
State and local officials across the country are making efforts to curb the effects of the coronavirus illness, which has already killed 75,000 people across the world, based on the data of Johns Hopkins University.
Governors in Michigan and Illinois claim that hospitals may run out of important personal protective equipment within days. Meanwhile, an internal government watchdog reports that hospitals nationwide are suffering from critical shortages of medical equipment.
Eight states in the U.S. still have no full order for residents to stay at home. Georgia Governor Brian Kemp is allowing beaches to reopen, disregarding orders from local officials who described the move "reckless."
