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Dr. Fauci Anticipates Another U.S. Coronavirus Outbreak In The Fall

   DailyWire.com
Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, right, speaks as U.S. President Donald Trump listens during a Coronavirus Task Force news conference in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Monday, March 30, 2020. Trump said he would now extend social distancing measures until at least April 30. Photographer
Michael Reynolds/EPA/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and a member of the White House coronavirus task force, has some more bad news to share with Americans.

The nation’s top infectious disease expert says he anticipates the U.S. will likely suffer through another coronavirus outbreak in the fall. But he offered a bit of hope, too, saying by then, the country will be better prepared to handle the virus.

“I would anticipate that that would actually happen because of the degree of transmissibility,” Fauci said when a reporter asked if SARS-CoV-2 would re-emerge in the fall.

The doctor added, however, that should the coronavirus return, “things are going to be very, very different.”

“Our ability to go out and be able to test, identify, isolate, and contact trace will be orders of magnitude better than what it was just a couple of months ago,” he said at the White House on Monday.

At the same briefing, President Trump revealed a new coronavirus testing device that can deliver results in as little as five minutes — far quicker than current tests, which take up to a week.

The Abbott Laboratories “5 Minute” COVID-19 test kit will be available in doctors’ offices, emergency rooms and drive-through sites within the next month, Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Stephen Hahn announced Monday.

“Just like tests for flu or strep where you go to the doctor’s office so you can get a test done, you can get an answer within minutes of having this test done,” Hahn said during Trump’s coronavirus task force briefing in the Rose Garden.

The testing cartridge “fits into the company’s portable ID NOW device, which is used at hospitals, clinics and doctors’ offices,” Fox News reported. “The company said it would launch the test next week to select health-care facilities delivering urgent care.”

Fauci said if the virus returns, there could also be treatments. Some are already in their clinical trial phases and could be ready by then. In addition, scientists are also working on a vaccine, although that is expected to take at least a year. Fauci said it will be key to have a vaccine “that’s on track, and multiple other candidates.”

The U.S. will also be far more prepared after going through the current crisis.

“What we’re going through right now is going to be more than just lessons learned, it’s going to be things that we have available to use that we did not have before,” Fauci said.

Current tests for COVID-19 can take up to a week to deliver results. But since the outbreak in the U.S., researchers have been working double time to produce a quicker test. Hahn said the new test would usually take 12 months to go through all Federal hoops and hit the market, but with support from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the test was approved in weeks.

“The numbers have been incredible on testing but in the days ahead we’re going to go even faster,” Trump told reporters.

Trump and the Department of Health and Human Services [HHS] also announced on Monday that the U.S. has tested more than 1 million people for COVID-19, which Trump said was “a milestone in our war against the coronavirus.”

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