Dr. Anthony Fauci, former head of former President Donald Trump’s disbanded White House Coronavirus Task Force and chief medical advisor to President Joe Biden, appeared on MSNBC early Tuesday morning to address the current coronavirus pandemic.
Fauci was specifically questioned about the situation in Texas, where coronavirus infections have decreased significantly since late January, despite the state following many of the public health recommendations he had supported.
“It can be perplexing because there could be a pause and a delay,” Fauci said, “and you always have to wait a few weeks before you see the impact of what you’re doing right now.” “You know, there are a lot of factors to consider.” When you say they’ve had a lot of outside interaction like ball games, I’m not sure what you mean; it may be that they’re doing stuff outside, but it’s difficult to compare them one-on-one.”
While Fauci expressed his hope that “they continue to tick down,” he also pointed out that “When you pull back on methods, particularly things like indoor dining and crowded bars, there’s always the worry that you’ll see a pause and then the clock will suddenly tick back up.
“We’ve been duped before by circumstances where people start to open up, nothing happens, and then it explodes on you a few weeks later.”
In Texas, almost 13 million doses of the coronavirus vaccine have been given, which may be contributing to the drop in case numbers.
“The other wild card in this Joe is that, despite the fact that everyone is tired of COVID-19 and wants to return to normalcy… We don’t want to claim victory too soon because there is a virus out there now, this version, that spreads very quickly, and if you reduce masking and avoid congregate settings, you’re taking a major risk “According to Fauci.
“If we can just hang in there a little longer, then every day that we hang in there and don’t just give in to the need to be free of all limits, we get better and better.”