Skip to main content

Coronavirus Not Yet Under Control: Top Health Expert Tells US Senate

Coronavirus Not Yet Under Control: Top Health Expert Tells US Senate
Washington: 
Leading US infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci on Tuesday warned Congress that a premature lifting of lockdowns could lead to additional outbreaks of the deadly coronavirus, which has killed 80,000 Americans and brought the economy to its knees.
Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told a US Senate panel that the virus epidemic is not yet under control in areas of the nation.
"I think we're going in the right direction, but the right direction does not mean we have by any means total control of this outbreak," Fauci said during hours of testimony.
He urged states to follow health experts' recommendations to wait for signs including a declining number of new infections before reopening.
President Donald Trump has been encouraging states to end a weeks-long shuttering of major components of their economies. But senators heard a sobering assessment from Fauci, when asked by Democrats about a premature opening of the economy.
The veteran doctor, who has worked under Republican and Democratic administrations, noted progress in the fight against a virus that the medical world is still trying to understand.
He noted a slowing in the growth of cases in hotspots such as New York, even as other areas of the country were seeing spikes.
Some states already have begun reopening their economies and others have announced plans to phase that in beginning in mid-May, even as opinion polls show most Americans are concerned about reopening too soon.
"There is a real risk that you will trigger an outbreak that you may not be able to control and, in fact paradoxically, will set you back, not only leading to some suffering and death that could be avoided, but could even set you back on the road to try to get economic recovery," Fauci said of premature steps.
Democrats on the health committee largely concentrated on the risks of opening the U.S. economy too soon, while Republicans downplayed that notion, saying a prolonged shutdown could have serious negative impacts on people's health and the health of the economy.
Asked whether college students can feel safe if classes resume on campuses in late August or early September, Fauci said that expecting a treatment or vaccine to be in place by then would be "a bridge too far."
The COVID-19 respiratory disease caused by the new coronavirus has infected more than 1.3 million Americans and killed more than 80,600.
Fauci, a member of Trump's coronavirus task force, told the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee that the nation's efforts to battle the deadly virus and the COVID-19 disease it triggers should be "focused on the proven public health practices of containment and mitigation."
Fauci, 79, testified remotely in a room lined with books as he self-quarantines after he may have come into contact with either of two members of the White House staff who were diagnosed with COVID-19. He noted that he may go to the White House if needed.
Medical researchers have been scrambling to find not only an effective vaccine for coronavirus but also drugs to treat it until a vaccine comes to market.
Fauci noted only "modest" results in tests of Gilead Sciences Inc's remdesivir drug on hospitalized patients.
"All roads back to work and back to school run through testing and that what our country has done so far on testing is impressive, but not nearly enough," Lamar Alexander, the Republican chairman of the Senate committee, told the hearing.
Alexander, who is self-quarantining in his home state of Tennessee for 14 days after a member of his staff tested positive, chaired the hearing virtually.
Trump, who previously made the strength of the economy central to his pitch for his November re-election, has encouraged states to reopen businesses that had been deemed non-essential amid the pandemic.
Senator Patty Murray, the senior committee Democrat, criticizing aspects of the administration's response to the pandemic, said Americans "need leadership, they need a plan, they need honesty and they need it now, before we reopen."
MD Mujeeb Subhan News

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Donald Trump or Joe Biden? What will change for Asean after the US election?

https://twitter.com/mujeebsubhan786 https://web.facebook.com/mdmujeeb.subhan.5

Global coronavirus cases cross 40 million: Reuters tally

Worldwide coronavirus cases crossed 40 million on Monday, according to a Reuters tally, as the onset of winter in the northern hemisphere fuelled a resurgence in the spread of the disease. The Reuters tally is based on official reporting by individual countries. Experts believe the true numbers of both cases and deaths are likely much higher, given deficiencies in testing and potential under-reporting by some countries. The Reuters data shows the pace of the pandemic continues to pick up. It took just 32 days to go from 30 million global cases to 40 million, compared with the 38 days it took to get from 20 to 30 million, the 44 days between 10 and 20 million, and the three months it took to reach 10 million cases from when the first cases were reported in Wuhan, China, in early January. Record one-day increases in new infections were seen at the end of last week, with global coronavirus cases rising above 400,000 for the first time. There were an average of around 347,000 c...

Russia-Ukraine war reaches 100 days: By the numbers

The invasion of Ukraine has lasted 100 days, with no end yet in sight as Russia and Ukraine continue to fight for control of eastern Ukraine. Russia maintains that it is conducting a "special operation" in its neighboring country, and the "operation" has taken a significant toll on the Ukrainian people. Nearly 15 million people have reportedly fled their homes since the invasion started, according to the latest data from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). The data indicates that around 6.8 million Ukrainian residents have headed for neighboring countries while an additional (estimated) 8 million remain displaced within the country itself. The latest count shows that 3,627,178 people went to Poland, 989,357 went to Romania, 971,417 went to Russia, 682,594 went to Hungary, 479,513 went to Moldova, 461,164 went to Slovakia and 30,092 went to Belarus. Those numbers continue to climb. Most of the refugees are women and ch...