Dr. Anthony Fauci and Fox News’ Laura Ingraham do not appear to agree on the differences between the coronavirus, HIV (human immunodeficiency viruses) and SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome).
Ingraham opened the exchange claiming “life did go on” despite not having a vaccine for SARS or HIV and asked Fauci why the United States is adamant about having one for the coronavirus before the nation returns to normal.
Fauci first explained how HIV/AIDS and SARS are different.
“We don’t have a vaccine for HIV/AIDS but we have spectacularly effective treatment,” Fauci said. “People who invariably would have died years ago right now are leading essentially normal lives. SARS is a different story. SARS disappeared.”
Fauci confirmed a vaccine was created for SARS, it went through the different phases and was proven to be safe, but then the virus disappeared.
He was not on board with Ingraham’s idea the coronavirus is similar to those viruses.
“I think it’s a little bit misleading maybe to compare what we’re going through now with HIV or SARS, they’re really different,” Fauci said.
Watch Fauci’s comments below:
INGRAHAM: We don't have a vaccine for SARS or HIV. Life went on, right?
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 17, 2020
FAUCI: HIV/AIDS is very different. We have effective treatments. And SARS went away. So your comparison is misleading.
I: But coronavirus could disappear too.
F: These kind of viruses don't just disappear. pic.twitter.com/YptrqViRQx
Ingraham went on to suggest the coronavirus could disappear just as SARS did.
“Anything could, Laura, but I have to tell you, the degree of efficiency of transmissibility of this is really unprecedented in anything that I’ve seen,” Fauci said. “It’s an extraordinarily efficient virus in transmitting from one person to another. Those kind of viruses don’t just disappear.”
The coronavirus continues to spread across the United States. As of Friday morning, there are more than 671,000 confirmed cases and at least 33,000 deaths.
President Donald Trump released new guidelines on Thursday evening for states to follow to reopen their economies, as IJR previously reported.
There is no confirmed timeline listed in the new guidelines of when restrictions on states are lifted but Trump did list criteria for states to begin rolling back social distancing restrictions.
