Fauci continued that it “isn’t inevitable” that COVID cases will continue to spike “as we get towards [the] election.” In fact, he added, “I feel that very strongly, if we do things correctly, and we start right now to do that. Everyone, all states, cities have to pull together for that.” It’s similar to what the NIAID director said the day prior on Politico’s Pulse Check podcast. “There seems to be a misperception that either you shut down completely and damage a lot of things—mental health, the economy, all kinds of things—or let it rip and do whatever you want,” Fauci explained. “You don’t have to lock down again, but everybody has got to be on board for doing these five or six fundamental public health measures.” Those public health measures Fauci has consistently been pushing are social distancing, wearing masks, practicing good hand hygiene, avoiding large crowds, and staying away from indoor restaurants and bars. If we all do those key things, the nation’s top immunologist believes November might look better than our current COVID situation does. But what exactly is the goal for our COVID numbers (other than eradicating the virus completely, of course)? In a livestreamed interview with the Journal of the American Medical Association on August 3, Fauci noted that the U.S. is currently seeing between 50,000 and 60,000 new coronavirus cases every day. “If we don’t get them down [to 10,000 per day], then we’re going to have a really bad situation in the fall,” he said. And for more advice from the expert, check out Dr. Fauci Wants You to Avoid Doing These 9 Things Right Now.
