A total lockdown is the best course of action to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, but such a measure could be “too drastic” for most Americans, according to National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins.
In an interview with USA Today released on Thursday, Collins said that it’s “hard to answer” whether the U.S. should be in a total lockdown to keep COVID-19 from spreading, saying that National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci, a member of the U.S. coronavirus task force, “has said a few times in recent days and that is that the approach we should be taking right now is one that most people would find to be too drastic because otherwise it is not drastic enough."
He added that a viable vaccine won’t be widely available for at least a year, possibly longer.
"We are flat out on this. But everyone needs to recognize that even flat out for a vaccine means we're a year to a year-and-a-half away," Collins said. "And that would be breaking the record by a factor of three or so given how long it usually takes to get something fully ready to be distributed to the public."
Collins could not say whether the U.S. is facing a similar situation to Italy, where over 3,400 people have died from COVID-19.
"Let's be clear: There's going to be a very rough road in the weeks and months ahead of us," he said.
"If we did everything right today, you would still see the numbers going up over the next two weeks because of what's out there already,” Collins added later. “We can't change that. But, what we might be able to do is change what's going to happen three or four weeks from now. That's our challenge.”
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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