After warning the protests and riots that have popped up across the country could spark a second wave of coronavirus infections, the nation’s top infectious disease expert now says a “second spike” is “not inevitable.”
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease and the face of the Trump administration’s coronavirus response, told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer Friday evening that there may not be a second spike, though the increase in cases in some states is worrisome.
“However, when you start to see increases in hospitalization, that’s a surefire situation that you’ve got to pay close attention to,” Fauci said on “The Situation Room.”
Still, Fauci said, there may not even be a second wave of coronavirus cases, as he previously suggested.
“It is not inevitable that you will have a so-called ‘second wave’ in the fall, or even a massive increase if you approach it in the proper way,” he told Blitzer.
Last week, however, Fauci told WTOP that the protests and riots that have broken out across the country following the police-involved death of George Floyd were “the perfect set-up for the spread of the virus in the sense of creating some blips which might turn into some surges.”
The protests, The Daily Wire’s Emily Zanotti reported, sometimes involve “tens of thousands of people and only minimal concern for anti-viral measures like social distancing,” which could lead to the second spike.
Fauci expanded on those comments in an interview with the Sunday Times of London, expressing concern for the protesters.
“As I sat in front of the TV and watched the screen go from Washington, D.C., to New York City, to Los Angeles, to Philadelphia, I got really concerned,” Fauci told the Sunday Times of London, per Fox News. “I was going, ‘Oh my goodness. I hope this doesn’t set us back a lot.’ [After] all of the work in trying to maintain the physical distance and doing all the things, I became very concerned that we might see a resurgence.”
The protests involve thousands of people in close spaces, many not wearing face masks and yelling and chanting – the perfect way to spread the virus among others.
“The protests bring together people from different areas, many of them virus hotspots, Fauci said,” per Fox. “The participants then return home and create a ‘perfect recipe’ for a resurgence of the virus.”
“I get very concerned, as do my colleagues in public health when they see these kinds of crowds,” Fauci added. “There certainly is a risk. I can say that with confidence.”
“It’s a difficult situation. We have the right to peacefully demonstrate and the demonstrators are exercising that right,” he said. “It’s a delicate balance because the reasons for demonstrating are valid and yet the demonstration itself puts oneself at additional risk.”
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