Fauci’s warning:
He tells Senate hearing that reopening the country too quickly risks bringing on more ‘suffering and death’ that could be avoided.
WASHINGTON — Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, warned bluntly Tuesday of “really serious” consequences of suffering, death and deeper economic damage if state and local officials lift stayathome orders too quickly, even as President Trump pushes them to act to right a freefalling economy.
Fauci’s testimony before a Senate committee came as more than two dozen states have begun to lift their lockdowns as a first step toward economic recovery.
Underscoring the seriousness of the pandemic that has reached Congress and the White House, Fauci and other experts testified by video from their homes. Sen. Lamar Alexander, RTenn., chaired the hearing by video from the study in his cabin in Tennessee, though several members of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committees did attend at the Capitol.
Fauci and other health officials stressed that pandemic danger persists, even as testing increases and work toward a vaccine and treatments continues.
More COVID19 infections are inevitable as people again start gathering, but how prepared communities are to stamp out those sparks will determine how bad the rebound is, Fauci told the senators.
“There is no doubt, even under the best of circumstances, when you pull back on mitigation you will see some cases appear,” Fauci said.
And if there is a rush to reopen without following guidelines, “my concern is we will start to see little spikes that might turn into outbreaks,” he said. “The consequences could be really serious.”
In fact, he said opening too soon “could turn the clock back,” and that not only would cause “some suffering and death that could be avoided, but could even set you back on the road to try to get economic recovery.”
The downbeat assessments came as the death toll in the United States surpassed 81,000 — a figure that Sen. Tim Kaine, DVa., noted was “45 times the rate of South Korea.”
Fauci was among four health experts testifying as Trump has been praising states that are reopening. The other experts included Dr. Robert Redfield, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Dr. Stephen Hahn, the commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration; and Adm. Brett Giroir, the assistant secretary for health.
Committee chairman Alexander said as the hearing opened that “what our country has done so far in testing is impressive, but not nearly enough.”
Utah Republican Sen. Mitt Romney, however, chided a White House event celebrating nearly 9 million coronavirus tests in the U.S., much more than testing leader South Korea performed. The difference is that South Korea tested early, and the U.S. is playing catch up, Romney said, adding that as a result there are many more American deaths.
“I find our testing record nothing to celebrate whatsoever,” Romney said.