Fauci: ‘We’re not there yet’ on steps to reopen economy
WASHINGTON — Dr. Anthony Fauci, the government’s top infectious disease expert, said Tuesday that the U.S. does not yet have the critical testing and tracing procedures needed to begin reopening the nation’s economy, adding a dose of caution to optimistic projections from the White House.
“We have to have something in place that is efficient and that we can rely on, and we’re not there yet,” Fauci said in an interview.
Fauci’s comments come as President Donald Trump and others in the administration weigh how quickly businesses can reopen and Americans can get back to work weeks after the fast-spreading coronavirus halted the U.S. economy. Trump has floated the possibility of reopening some areas by May 1 and said he could announce recommendations as soon as this week.
Fauci said a May 1 target is “a bit overly optimistic” for many areas of the country.
Any easing of the strict social-distancing rules in place in much of the country would have to occur on a “rolling” basis, not all at once, he said, reflecting the ways COVID-19 struck different parts of the country at different times.
Among Fauci’s top concerns is there will be new outbreaks in locations where social distancing has eased, but health officials don’t yet have the capabilities to rapidly test for the virus, isolate new cases and track down everyone that an infected person came into contact with.
“I’ll guarantee you, once you start pulling back there will be infections. It’s how you deal with the infections that’s going count,” Fauci said.
Key is “getting people out of circulation if they get infected, because once you start getting clusters, then you’re really in trouble,” he added.
At the same time Fauci is directing crucial government research, he’s also one of the administration’s leading spokespeople on the virus, spending hours each week by Trump’s side during his lengthy, daily White House briefings.
Fauci said his public role is important but conceded that the duration of those briefings — Monday’s ran for nearly 21⁄ hours — was “really draining” and that doesn’t even count preparation and waiting for it to start.
“If I had been able to just make a few comments and then go to work, that would have really been much better,” he said. “It isn’t the idea of being there and answering questions, which I really think is important for the American public. It’s the amount of time.”
Much of Fauci’s time outside of the White House briefing room is focused on analyzing progress on blood tests that aim to tell who was exposed to the coronavirus — whether they knew they were sick or not — by spotting antibodies their immune system formed to fight back. Those tests will be crucial in determining when and how people can go back to work.
The problem is most of the tests have not yet been proven to work well, Fauci said.
Fauci, infectious disease chief at the National Institutes of Health, said his staff is working with the Food and Drug Administration to validate tests.