The nation’s top disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, intends to issue a warning to the Senate. On Tuesday, he will explain how Americans will experience “needless suffering and death,” if the country is allowed to reopen too soon.
Dr. Fauci has been widely respected as an important voice during the coronavirus pandemic. He is one of four top government doctors who will testify remotely. This will happen during a hearing before the Senate Health Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee.
This will be the first time that Fauci will appear before Congress since a national emergency was declared by Trump in March. The hearing will give Fauci a chance to talk to the public and lawmakers without President Trump nearby.
After the daily briefings with the coronavirus task force were abandoned by Trump, Fauci has mostly been out of public view. He is currently under a “modified quarantine.” This happened after he experienced a self-described “low risk” exposure to someone who had the virus.
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Dr. Fauci revealed what he plans to tell senators in an email. He sent it to the New York Times reporter Sheryl Gay Stolberg late Monday night.
“The major message that I wish to convey to the Senate HLP committee tomorrow is the danger of trying to open the country prematurely,” wrote Fauci.
“If we skip over the checkpoints in the guidelines to: ‘Open America Again,’ then we risk the danger of multiple outbreaks throughout the country. This will not only result in needless suffering and death but would actually set us back on our quest to return to normal.”
A plan has been laid out by the White House for Opening Up America Again. Many states are not following the plan.
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A guideline is laid out for state officials who plan to reopen their economies.
The plan includes this as a recommendation: “States should have a “downward trajectory of positive tests” or a “downward trajectory of documented cases” of coronavirus over two weeks, while conducting robust contact tracing and “sentinel surveillance” testing of asymptomatic people in vulnerable populations, such as nursing homes.
However, many states aren’t following the plan as they begin to reopen. This means things won’t be safe enough. It also means people might be put at risk.
“We’re not reopening based on science,” said Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, who worked as a former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“We’re reopening based on politics, ideology, and public pressure. And I think it’s going to end badly.”
A second wave of infection is expected to arrive. Scientists are warning that it may not wait until Fall. Instead, the second wave may occur as a series of unpredictable wavelets. The government will hopefully come up with some sort of virus pest control by then.
In the meantime, Americans should wear masks while out in public. They should also stay six feet apart. Experts say those two suggestions will go a long way in helping people stay safe.
Related: Fauci Facing Death Threats, Forced to Beef Up Security
