World may never return to pre-coronavirus 'normal' ever again, says Dr Anthony Fauci
If there is one man on president Donald Trump's coronavirus task force that the American public trusts in these trying times, it is Dr Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and a renowned immunologist.
While the Trump administration has struggled to keep things together over its response to the deadly outbreak that has infected 368,000 people in the country and killed almost 11,000, Fauci has served as its anchor despite reports of his incompatibility with the president over facts.
With the US preparing itself for the worst in another nine days time (the infection’s projected peak day is April 16 when experts fear more than 3,000 will die in 24 hours), Fauci said the world will never again return to what was considered ‘normal’ before the emergence of the novel coronavirus four months ago. The virus has not only affected human society’s health and behavior but its economy too.
The 79-year-old Fauci, considered one of America’s top experts on infectious diseases, made his pessimistic forecast at the White House press briefing after a reporter queried whether the country would be able to return to what it was before the outbreak.
Back to nomal only when population is completely protected with vaccine
“If “back to normal” means acting like there never was a coronavirus problem, I don't think that's going to happen until we do have a situation where you can completely protect the population [with a vaccine],” he said.
“When we say “getting back to normal” we mean something very different from what we're going through right now, because right now we are in a very intense mitigation.
“We will go back gradually to the point [where] we can function as a society. You're absolutely right,” the doctor said, adding: “If you want to get to pre-coronavirus, that might not ever happen in the sense of the fact that the threat is there."
Fauci, who had earlier made a forecast that the novel coronavirus is likely to return seasonally every year, however, sounded optimistic over the cure. He said he the scientific progress over the remedy keeps him hopeful.
Fauci has had his moments of difference with Trump in the past over observing social distancing or the probable drug to cure the disease. Fauci has been in favor of maintaining social distancing even if the president spoke against it at times. Again, while Trump has stressed that an unproven anti-malarial drug could work as a “game changer” in the fight against coronavirus, Fauci felt there was no scientific evidence to say that itvwould definitely work.
Forecasters at the University of Washington’s School of Medicine on Sunday (April 5) released updates that showed the pandemic could die down quicker than initially predicted and level out as early as June, reported Daily Mail.
The pandemic has affected over 1.3 million people worldwide while more than 74,000 lives have been lost.