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Anthony Fauci warned on Thursday that Americans should reconsider their usual plans for traditional Thanksgiving gatherings, citing the rise in coronavirus infections and hospitalizations.
Fauci, the highest ranking public health official on the White House coronavirus task force, told ABC News that, given the increase in cases in nearly three dozen US states, “We really have to redouble the fundamental public health measures that we talk about every day, because they can make a difference ”.
He frequently urges people to social distancing, wearing masks and hand washing, and good messages, testing, and contact tracing by government agencies.
As for Thanksgiving, when millions of Americans travel to reunite with family and friends, Fauci said this Nov. 26 could be different. “We really have to be careful this time that each individual family weighs the risk-benefit.”
The US government’s leading infectious disease expert said it was especially important because people traveling on vacation often pass through crowded transportation hubs such as airports.
“If you have vulnerable people, the elderly or people who have underlying conditions, you better consider whether you want to do it now or maybe just anticipate [gatherings] and wait, ”Fauci said.
Fauci also criticized a statement by a group of scientists supporting the concept of “herd immunity,” which the White House is using to fuel a push to reopen schools and businesses. Fauci told ABC that supporting herd immunity, the idea that a disease will stop spreading once almost everyone has contracted it, is “nonsense.”
“If you talk to someone who has some experience in epidemiology and infectious diseases, they will tell you that this is risky and you will end up with many more infections of vulnerable people, which will lead to hospitalizations and death,” he told Good. Morning America on Thursday.
“So I think we have to look that square in the eye and say it’s silly.”
The United States leads the world with 7.9 million coronavirus cases and nearly 217,000 confirmed deaths.
Globally, there have been 38 million reported cases and 1.09 million confirmed deaths.
On Thursday afternoon, Donald Trump attacked Fauci during the president’s campaign rally in North Carolina, after Fauci criticized the president’s re-election campaign for featuring him in a political ad without his consent.
The president mocked Fauci for altering his advice to Americans at the beginning of the pandemic on the advisability of wearing face masks to limit the spread of the coronavirus, misquoting him.
“He said ‘don’t wear a mask, don’t wear a mask under any circumstances,’” Trump told the crowd. “Then they say, ‘Oh, wear a mask.’
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention initially said that healthy people without any known exposure to the coronavirus did not have to wear masks, but the agency modified that guidance after evidence showed that masks could help limit the spread of the coronavirus. viruses from asymptomatic people or who have not yet done so. showing symptoms.
Trump also said of Fauci: “He’s a Democrat; Everyone knows that. “
Fauci, who has headed the National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases since 1984, actually has no party affiliation, according to his voter registration.
In North Carolina, President Trump claims that “everyone knows” that Dr. Fauci, who has worked under presidents of both parties, is a Democrat. Your voter registration: pic.twitter.com/PYIiifkz6q
– Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) October 15, 2020
Fauci has also explicitly said that he did not want to appear in Trump campaign ads because “it is very clear that I am not a political person.”
“I have never, directly or indirectly, supported a political candidate,” Fauci told CNN on Monday. “And taking a statement completely out of context and putting it in what is obviously a political campaign ad, I found it very disappointing.”
The president also said once again, against all evidence, that the pandemic was going to go away.
“It’s going to end, and it’s going to end, but we are going to help in the end,” Trump said, offering very optimistic predictions about the development of a coronavirus vaccine and therapeutics.
Trump, who recently recovered from the coronavirus after being airlifted to the hospital and receiving the best available treatment, including pioneering drugs, said: “One thing I do say is get to the hospital early. I arrived early. They can do things. “
This contradicts the fact that many Americans who have been affected by the coronavirus have inadequate access to health care.
At his rally, Trump also recounted an anecdote in which he had told a supporter that the only person in the world more famous than him was Jesus Christ.
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