Americans will most likely need to stay home and practice social distancing for "at least several weeks, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said Friday.
“If you look at the trajectory of the curves of outbreaks and other areas, at least going to be several weeks,” the doctor, a member of President Donald Trump's coronavirus task force, told NBC "Today" anchor Savannah Guthrie. “I cannot see that all of a sudden, next week or two weeks from now it's going to be over. I don't think there's a chance of that. I think it's going to be several weeks.”
Fauci also on Friday said he would recommend that Trump use the Defense Production Act to produce critical supplies, such as respirators and face masks, as reports climb about doctors and nurses using makeshift equipment, to alleviate equipment shortages that are already surfacing.
“I think we should do everything we possibly can do," he told Guthrie. "I mean, in all sectors, because obviously as I've said so many times, when you think you're maybe overreacting, you probably are not acting as forcefully as you should. So as we've always said, we've got to try very much to stay ahead of the curve.”
The CDC itself has suggested medical professionals use a bandana if they don't have anything else to use to shield their mouths and noses, and Fauci agreed that with a serious outbreak, there will be "significant stress" on supplies.
He also suggested that people delay or cancel any procedures that are elective, as beds and equipment that would be needed "should be used for people who really need it."
He added that Trump is "very serious" about doing all that can be done on the shortage situation.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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