Leading U.S. infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci on Tuesday warned Congress that a premature opening of the nation’s economy could lead to additional outbreaks of the deadly coronavirus.
The director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases warned a U.S. Senate panel that States should follow health experts’ recommendations to wait for signs including a declining number of new infections before reopening.
‘More outbreaks’
President Donald Trump has been encouraging States to end a weeks-long shuttering of major components of their economies.
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“If some areas, cities, States or what have you jump over those various checkpoints and prematurely open up without having the capability of being able to respond effectively and efficiently, my concern is that we will start to see little spikes that might turn into outbreaks,” Dr. Fauci said. “The consequences could be really serious.”
Dr. 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”.
Dr. Fauci, 79, testified remotely 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.
Last week, Dr. Fauci was blocked by the White House from testifying to a Democratic-controlled House of Representatives panel. The White House had said such testimony by the infectious disease expert would have been “counterproductive”.
“All roads back to work and back to school run through testing and what our country has done so far on testing is impressive, but not nearly enough,” Lamar Alexander, the Republican chairman of the Senate committee, said in an opening statement to Tuesday’s hearing.
Mr. Alexander is also self-quarantining in his home state of Tennessee.