White House coronavirus task force expert Anthony Fauci said the pandemic will “get worse before it gets better” over the next eight weeks.
As universities are closing, professional sporting events are canceled, and a growing number of the public are working remotely due to the novel coronavirus, Fauci was asked on ABC’s Good Morning America if the state of the country will worsen or improve with time.
“Well, it’s certainly going to get worse before it gets better,” Fauci said of the spreading virus.
“If you look the pattern of viruses, particularly these types of viruses, and even look at what has gone on in China, Italy, and in South Korea, you go along like this, the way we were. And then you have a big spike that goes way up. And then after a while, after much disease, suffering, and death, it goes back down again,” he continued while speaking on measures to mitigate COVID-19’s infection rates.
“But to be clear, we have not peaked yet?” Fauci was asked. “No, there’s no doubt that we have not peaked yet,” he replied.
Fauci was then asked if it was possible for the United States to issue a complete lockdown of foreign travel, to which Fauci said: “all things are on the table.”
“I’m not sure we’re going to get to that. I think that would be really rather dramatic, but I can tell you that all things are on the table. We just have to respond as things evolve over the days and over the weeks.”
Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said the public should expect destabilization of their normal routine for the next several months, estimating the situation could worsen up to “eight weeks or more.”
“I mean it’s unpredictable, but if you look at historically, how these things work, it’ll likely be anywhere from a few weeks up to eight weeks or more,” he said while adding that he hopes it’ll end before then. “But It’s really impossible to make an accurate prediction.”
COVID-19 cases have appeared in every continent except Antarctica. Nearly 135,000 people have tested positive for the virus around the world, killing at least 4,988 people, according to the New York Times. In the U.S., more than 1,600 people have been diagnosed with the coronavirus and at least 40 patients have died. The World Health Organization declared the coronavirus a global pandemic on Wednesday.
“It’s certainly going to get worse before it gets better.” NIH official Dr. Anthony Fauci says it could be up to “eight weeks or more” of shutdowns and working from home as COVID-19 cases continue to surge in the U.S. https://t.co/OSp7OkbziN pic.twitter.com/bS1IQiAy58
— Good Morning America (@GMA) March 13, 2020
