Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said in an interview with WebMD’s medical director on Saturday that young people are driving the increase in coronavirus cases by “not caring” if they become infected.
Because it is important: Fauci said the largest age group currently reporting new infections is at least 15 years younger than the main demographic that contracted the virus a few months ago.
What he says: “[Young people are] I’m not going to get very sick. They know it, “said Fauci.
- “So what I think is happening is that, understandably, innocently, but not correctly, younger people say, well, if I get infected, then chances are I don’t even have any symptoms, so who cares. “That’s a big mistake”.
- “Because by allowing yourself to become infected or not worrying about becoming infected, you are spreading a pandemic. Because it does not end with you. You become infected and have no symptoms. Chances are, you will infect someone else, who will infect someone else.”
- “And then someone who is vulnerable to serious consequences will become infected. That could be [somebody’s] father, mother or grandmother. It could be a sick child who is an immunodeficient child. It could be a woman who is receiving chemotherapy for breast cancer. “
- “Then suddenly you are not operating in a vacuum. You are part of the problem rather than part of the solution.”
Fauci kept his June warning that the United States can begin reporting up to 100,000 new coronavirus cases per day if it does not control the virus.
- “I think we can change this. But when I said that I was worried that we could target 100,000 a day … I didn’t want to, you know, inappropriately scare anyone.”
- “But if you take a look at what really happened, at that point, we went from 20 to 30, and then we doubled it. We went to [40,000], and then 50, 60, and now we’re at 70. “
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