The number of U.S. coronavirus-related deaths may end up being less than predicted, Dr. Anthony Fauci said.
In an interview on NBC’s “TODAY” show, Fauci said he thinks the country is experiencing the “beginning” of the flattening of the curve.
New models suggest the U.S. death toll may total 60,000 not 100,000 or 200,000 as previously predicted. The director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases attributed the drop to social distancing and stay-at-home orders working to stop the spread.
While the number of deaths from coronavirus has increased this week, he said there “are some glimmers of hope.” Pointing to the number of hospitalizations in New York stabilizing, he said mitigation efforts are starting to have “a real effect.”
Fauci said he’s “cautiously optimistic” that the U.S. may soon start to see a “turnaround and that curve not only flatten, but coming down.”
But he cautioned that doesn’t mean the virus will go away completely when the country begins to return to normal.
“When we attempt to get back to normal, we have to have in place the ability, when it starts to try and rear its ugly head, we can absolutely suppress it by identification, isolation, contact tracing,” he said. “When you're talking about getting back to normal, we know now that we can get hit by a catastrophic outbreak like this. It can happen again, so we really need to be prepared to respond in a much more vigorous way.”
Fauci said forthcoming antibody tests can help play a role in reopening businesses.
Several companies are working on blood tests that will help identify if a person was previously infected with COVID-19 but was asymptomatic. The antibody tests will also help show whether an infected person is protected from contracting the virus again.
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