Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is expressing concern about the possibility of mass protests accelerating the spread of the coronavirus.
The top infectious disease expert appeared on ABCās āGood Morning AmericaāĀ Wednesday where he reflected on the nationwide protests taking place following the death of George Floyd.
While many protesters have been seen wearing masks, Fauci is expressing concern about the lack of āphysical separation.ā
āThe issue of physical separation is important. Masks can help, but itās masks plus physical separation, and when you get congregations like we saw with the demonstrations like we have saidĀ āĀ myself and other health officialsĀ āĀ thatās taking a risk,ā Fauci said. āUnfortunately, what weāre seeing now is just an example of the kinds of things we were concerned about.ā
See Fauciās remarks below:
Now that the National Guard troops have been withdrawn from Washington, D.C., some have tested positive for coronavirus.
While Fauci admitted that the positive test results are not surprising, he does find it ādisturbing.ā
āThe most important thing, unfortunately, the report of the National Guardsmen being infected is certainly disturbing,ā Fauci said, adding, āBut itās not surprising.ā
Fauci went on to discuss the reopening of the United States economy. In May, all 50 states entered some phase of reopening. However, Fauci is still stressing the importance of caution as people continue to attempt to return to some form of normality.
āWhen you open, that doesnāt mean that everything is okay and you can just do whatever you want,ā Fauci said. āYou still have to practice a degree of caution and carefully go through the process of trying to normalize.ā
He added, āWe know everyone wants to approach normality and get things back to normal, including the economy, but that doesnāt mean that all bets are off, and thatās the reason why we say be careful and do it prudently.ā