Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, offered a ray of hope as more states and cities begin to flatten the curve of COVID-19 cases, during an interview on CBS Thursday morning.
When asked whether he can envision a summer where people are going back to large gatherings such as beaches, baseball games, weddings and reunions based on the models, Fauci agreed that “it can be in the cards” but that he says that “with some caution.”
Fauci added that when the country is reopened, which President Trump hopes will happen as soon as possible, we need to plan ahead for the resurgence of infections.
“We have to be prepared that when the infections start to rear their heads again that we have in place a very aggressive and effective way to identify, isolate, contact-trace,” Fauci said. “And make sure we don’t have those spikes that we see now.”
Fauci then circled back to the question of summer gatherings and vacations, saying that the answer is “yes” as long as “we do the things we need to do to prevent the resurgence,” referring to mitigation strategies.
Watch Fauci’s remarks below:
When asked by @TonyDokoupil if he can envision a summer where we're returning to beaches, celebrations, etc., Dr. Fauci said yes, “if we do the things that we need to do to prevent the resurgence" and "identify, isolate, contact, trace," to avoid future spikes. pic.twitter.com/FBExwKcjrY
— CBS This Morning (@CBSThisMorning) April 9, 2020
