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US could start reopening in May, top virus advisor says
WASHINGTON, April 12, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – The United States may be
ready to start gradually reopening next month, the government’s top
infectious diseases expert said Sunday, as signs grew that the
coronavirus pandemic is peaking.
President Donald Trump had earlier wanted the world’s largest
economy to be “raring to go” by Sunday, but most of the country
remained at a standstill and churches took Easter celebrations online
to halt the spread of the virus that has killed more than 20,000
people in the US.
Trump has cast the decision on when to ease the lockdown as the
biggest of his presidency as he faces competing pressures from public
health experts and businesses along with some conservative allies who
want a swift return to business as usual.
Anthony Fauci, the veteran pandemic expert who has quietly sought
action to stem infections, said in a televised interview that parts of
the country could begin easing restrictions next month — but was
cautious.
“I think it could probably start at least in some ways maybe next
month,” Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and
Infectious Diseases, told CNN.
“We are hoping by the end of the month we can look around and say,
okay, is there any element here that we can safely and cautiously
start pulling back on?” Fauci said.
“If so, do it. If not, then just continue to hunker down,.”
Fauci said that regions would be ready at different times rather
than the United States turning on a “light switch.”
Stephen Hahn, commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, said
it was premature to say that the country would reopen on May 1.
“We’re hopeful about that target, but I think it’s too early to be
able to tell that,” Hahn said in an ABC interview.
Unlike in most Western countries, lockdown decisions are primarily
up to local governments, not the president, and leaders of a number of
hard-hit, densely populated states have made clear that they will take
action as long as necessary.
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“I fear if we open up too early and we have not sufficiently made that
health recovery and cracked the back of this virus, that we could be
pouring gasoline on the fire, even inadvertently,” New Jersey Governor
Phil Murphy, a Democrat, told CNN.
Maryland Governor Larry Hogan, a Republican, cautioned against an
“artificial deadline” and called for more extensive testing. Trump
said in early March that any American who wants to be tested for
coronavirus will be able to do so but has walked back his promise amid
a shortage, saying that rural states were not a priority.
– ‘Cautiously optimistic’ –
The United States has been recording nearly 2,000 deaths a day from
the coronavirus, disproportionately older people with weakened immune
systems and ethnic minorities with less access to health care and
teleworking.
Fauci said he was “cautiously optimistic” as admissions into
hospitals and intensive care had begun to decline even in worst-hit
New York.
There are sign the outbreak “not only has flattened, it’s starting
to turn the corner,” he said.
The United States, which has 4.25 percent of the world’s population,
accounts for almost a fifth of the world’s nearly 110,000 deaths from
COVID-19 since the disease first emerged in China late last year.
The New York Times, in an extensive article published Sunday,
described Trump as failing to act quickly in part due to his
confidence in his gut instincts and his distrust of civil servants he
brands as a conspiratorial “deep state.”
Fauci, who has advised six successive presidents, acknowledged in
the CNN interview that the United States could have saved lives by
shutting down public spaces when the disease’s seriousness became
clear early in the year.
“But there was a lot of pushback about shutting things down back
then,” said Fauci, without naming Trump.
Trump had been hoping to campaign on a strong economy as he seeks
re-election in November.
Instead, some 17 million people have lost their jobs in a matter of
weeks and his presumptive Democratic rival, Joe Biden, has been
hammering him for not doing more to stop the virus.
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