Fauci warns of backfiring if states reopen too fast
LOS ANGELES — As the rate of new infections and deaths from the coronavirus slowed in parts of the country Monday, some local governments began to ease stay-at-home restrictions while others pleaded with residents to stay put amid scattered protests in support of reopenings.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, warned Americans against trying too quickly to return to normal.
“It’s going to backfire,” Fauci said in an interview on “Good Morning America.” “That’s the problem.”
This week, Texas state parks reopened, as did beaches in South Carolina, both with physical distancing rules in place. But in New York, Gov. Andrew Cuomo warned Monday that although the state appears to be moving past the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the possibility of “horrifically high” death rates remains if restrictions ease too fast.
In New York City, the worst-hit place in the country, Mayor Bill de Blasio said health care workers could run out of surgical gowns by next week. Underlining the continued crisis in the city, the mayor canceled permits for major public events in June, which included New York’s Pride March and Puerto Rican Day Parade.
Meanwhile, American flag-waving demonstrators gathered Monday in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, with signs that included the phrases “The media is the virus” and “Jesus is my vaccine,” and another small group stood with similar messages outside the North Dakota Capitol in Bismarck.
Speaking on Fox News on Monday, White House adviser Kellyanne Conway echoed President Donald Trump’s support of the protest movements.
Conway said some state governors, including Michigan’s, have “physically distanced from common sense” in placing restrictions. By example, she cited the state shutting down gardening stores but allowing marijuana dispensaries to operate. “You can basically smoke your grass, but not cut your grass.,” she said.
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Monday again pushed back against protests of her weekslong restrictions, comparing the fight against the coronavirus to the sacrifice needed during World War II.
“President Trump called this a war, and it is exactly that. So let’s act like it,” Whitmer, a Democrat, said.
“In World War II, there weren’t people lining up at the Capitol to protest the fact that they had to drop everything they were doing and build planes or tanks or ration food,” she said.
Trump has pushed for states to ease restrictions and reopen, and promised over the weekend to ramp up the testing needed to ensure it is safe to do so.
While some states — mostly Republican-led ones — have relaxed restrictions, many governors say they lack the testing supplies they need and warn they could get hit by a second wave of infections.