Comparing the response of the United States to the coronavirus pandemic to Europe, Dr. Anthony Fauci said that America's 'diversity of response' highly affected the ability to prevent the spread of the virus. Currently, the United States has about 4.7 million cases.
Although the government implemented a nationwide shutdown, he said that when looking at what the U.S. did only about 50 percent of the country's functionally shut down. While some states followed reopening guidelines, others did not do it quite so well.
The diversity of response in the different states resulted in failing to contain the spread of coronavirus better. Another factor is shutting only after the virus had already spread far and wide. Unity would have helped keep cases at a low count, said Dr. Fauci.
There have already been more than 152,000 deaths. By late August, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates the death count to increase to about 167,000 to 182,000.
Another Lockdown?
When asked if the United States needs to go through another lockdown to have cases under control, Fauci responded saying he believes it isn't necessary. Instead, since states have already opened, a better way to control the spread of infection is to assess how well guidelines are being followed. If a state is in Phase 2 of reopening but had skipped over guidelines too quickly, it's okay to pause and go back to Phase 1, said Fauci.
With flu season arriving, school openings, and states reopening, the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation estimates additional increases by November. This may also be the result of people debating about wearing masks and social distancing measures.
Dr. Chris Murray from the institute said that only about 55 percent of Americans are wearing a mask. This is good news compared to a much lower percentage before, but Dr. Murray says "it's a long way to go before we get to the levels like Singapore has at 95 percent," which had helped the country prevent a lot of cases.
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Vaccine Availability
Due to Operation Warp Speed, a government initiative to fund vaccine developments, chief adviser Moncef Slaoui reports that vaccines may be available for all Americans by the end of next year. He said, "I think this vaccine is going to be highly efficacious. I wouldn't be surprised if it's in the 90 percent [range]."
Dr. Fauci remains 'cautiously optimistic' that a vaccine will be available by the end of the year or early next year. Currently, under Operation Warp Speed, two potential vaccines are already conducting human trials. Moderna and the National Institutes of Health have more than 250,000 volunteers enrolling for phase three of human trials.
Despite a high percentage of Americans unwilling to get vaccinated for COVID-19 when it becomes available, Bill Gates urges the public, saying "we certainly need people to be rational about vaccines. They eradicated smallpox, they saved millions and millions of lives."
Fauci encourages more Americans to register online and enroll in the trials so they can begin as soon as possible and be part of the solution of this 'terrible scourge'. Meanwhile, Gates shared that people should take comfort in the fact that the Food and Drug Administration remains nonpolitical as they develop drugs and treatment for coronavirus.
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