The coronavirus pandemic in the United States is not going in a positive direction, but it is possible to balance the desire to reopen with precautions that can help slow the spread of the coronavirus, said Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the 'National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases. an interview with JAMA on Thursday.
"I think it is pretty obvious that we are not going in the right direction," he said.
Wednesday, more than 50,000new infections have been reported in the United States and at least 23 American states have suspended or canceled their plans to reopen.
Fauci said it was neither to support the reopening nor to support public health measures. "There is this feeling of an all-or-nothing phenomenon, where you are either locked out or you are just going to say ... the devil can care and let it go," he said.
"The best way, as a vehicle to open the country safely, is to use public health measures prudently," said Fauci. "It is not public health against openness."
The advice is particularly relevant as the nation is entering a holiday weekend amid new evidence suggesting that the virus has mutated to become more infectious.
"It seems that a particular mutation can make the virus more transmissible," said Fauci. Research released Thursday suggests that the mutation does not make people sicker, however.
Fauci said pool testing, a strategy that tests multiple samples at once, can be a useful monitoring tool. This is particularly useful when there are not many cases of viruses in a community.
"If you have a situation where the penetration is very low, but you want to make sure it is low, it is so much better to do tests in the pool than to try to do individual tests in the community," said he declared. "It saves resources. It saves time. This saves equipment and money. "
Fauci said pool testing, as well as intermittent testing, could be helpful when colleges reopen in the fall.
For primary schools, he recommended making decisions based on viral activity in particular regions. "As part of a careful assessment of children's safety and the impact on the community, we should try our best to bring the children back to school," he said.
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