July 7, 2020 — The country’s top infectious disease expert said the situation with COVID-19 in the U.S is “really not good” as cases surge across the country.
Anthony Fauci, MD, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said the new numbers – which have been topping 50,000 cases a day – are a resurgence of infections from the first wave of the disease.
“It’s a serious situation that we have to address immediately,” Fauci said during a livestream Monday with Francis Collins, MD, PhD, director of the National Institutes of Health.
Fauci said some states and cities moved to reopen too soon. People need to wear masks, social distance and avoid crowds.
Still, Fauci and Collins said they are confident science will triumph over the pandemic.
“We are going to vanquish this guy,” said Francis Collins, MD, PhD, director of the National Institutes of Health, in a video call shown on NIH social media with Anthony Fauci, MD, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
“In a few years, we’ll have parties when we talk about, ‘What did you do in 2020?’” Collins said. “We have the courage, the strength, the vision and the energy to make it happen, and the hope.”
Fauci was just as adamant.
“It will end — we will get through this for absolutely certain,” Fauci told viewers exhausted by soaring infection rates and the ongoing struggle to support the economy while keeping people safe.
“We will get a vaccine; we will get therapies for early disease and late disease,” Fauci said. “Hang in there. It we end. We promise you.”
They urged Americans to wear masks, frequently wash hands, and maintain social distancing – “all of those simple and straightforward things that I know you’re a little tired of,” as Collins said.
Work on vaccines continues, although it’s unknown how long a dose could last, Fauci said.
“It will be finite. We may need a boost to continue the protection, but right now we don’t know how long it lasts.”
A vaccine could be ready for Phase 3 safety and efficacy testing at the end of July. Other vaccines will be ready in August, September and October, and Fauci hopes results will be available around the start of 2021 to show whether the vaccines work safely.
In the meantime, authorities will order the drugs be produced so they’re on hand in case one or more does the trick.
A trial will involve 30,000 people, with half receiving the vaccine, Fauci said. The trials will be conducted at “multiple sites” in the United States and in other countries.
Americans hit hardest by COVID-19 – including African-Americans, Latinos, and older people – will be recruited for the trials, he said.
Twitter, @NIH, July 6, 2020.
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