Dr. Anthony Fauci suggested on Wednesday that Americans should consider wearing glasses or a face shield to prevent the spread or capture of COVID-19.
“If you have glasses or an eye shield, you should wear it,” the nation’s leading infectious disease expert told ABC News chief medical correspondent Dr. Jennifer Ashton during an Instagram Live conversation on ABC News .
When asked if we will get to a point where eye protection is recommended, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases replied, “You could, if you really want perfect protection of mucosal surfaces.”
“You have mucosa in your nose, mucosa in your mouth, but you also have mucosa in your eye,” he continued. “Theoretically, you should protect all mucosal surfaces. So if you have glasses or an eye protector, you should wear it.”
He noted that glasses and eye or face shields “are not universally recommended” at this time, “but if you really want to be complete, you should probably wear it if you can.”
The new coronavirus pandemic has killed more than 662,000 people worldwide so far, and more than 16.8 million people worldwide have been diagnosed with COVID-19, the disease caused by the new respiratory virus, according to data from the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.
Currently, the United States is the most affected country, with more than 4.3 million diagnosed cases and more than 150,000 deaths.
Fauci watching Ohio, Tennessee, Kentucky and Indiana
Fauci called four states by name that are fighting to control the virus. He and Dr. Deborah Birx, coordinator of the White House coronavirus task force, addressed these states in a call with the governors on Tuesday.
Ohio, Tennessee, Kentucky and Indiana are among those “starting to show that very subtle increase in positive percentages among the total examined, which is a sure clue that you may be having the same kind of problems with the US states. South states got into trouble. So we’re looking at that very carefully. ”
Birx has toured those states last week, meeting with officials from each state.
Fauci in the test window after exposure
Fauci also discussed when people should be tested for COVID-19 if they think they have been exposed to the virus, since there are no official guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or the National Institutes of Health on when to get the test. test.
“That question came up at the working group meeting yesterday and we asked the same thing and said there is no real recommendation,” said Fauci. “I think five [days] it’s good. It could even go a day or so earlier because the incubation period of when you have symptoms is about five days. ”
The window that Fauci recommended is “not before three [days] or before five or six. “
Fauci anticipates the flu season
As summer passes into fall, Fauci also spoke about the upcoming flu season.
Fauci said he hopes wearing masks will also help limit the spread of influenza.
“It is inevitable that we have a certain degree of flu,” he said. “I hope that the use of masks and other coatings not only protects us against COVID-19, but also protects us against influenza.”
He said two circulating respiratory viruses really “confuse the situation” since the symptoms of the new coronavirus and the flu are very similar.
“Get out and get a flu shot when the flu shot becomes available,” he urged.
Fauci on his personal life
Fauci attributed his good health to genetics, which he said was probably inherited by his father, who lived to be 97 years old. The 79-year-old has joked about his own age, most recently when he struggled to pitch the first home pitcher throwing for the Washington Nationals.
He gets up at 5 in the morning every morning, drinks juice or eggs and drinks two “very strong” double espresso while boarding his email. She works late, tries to squeeze into a race, she noticed that she used to run marathons in her youth, and then she will work “late at night.”
“Sleeping is the only thing that really suffered in all of this,” he said.
He also joked about his baseball card, with his opening pitch last week, which is breaking sales records: “It’s a combination of humility and really embarrassing … Yogi Berra and Mickey Mantle are looking at me from the sky and saying: ” Are you kidding?'”
Watch the full interview here:
.
