DETROIT – When it comes to credible and reliable information on the status of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, no voice is more trusted than Dr. Anthony Fauci.
Fauci was interviewed on Wednesday by the editor of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). There were some of the important messages that came from that conversation.
Fauci does interviews with the JAMA on a fairly regular basis. Early on, they were somewhat more targeted at medical professionals but they’ve evolved into a much broader discussion of topics that everyone can relate to. They discussed topics as straightforward as his thoughts on the upcoming holiday season.
“You don’t want to be the Grinch that stole the holidays -- but I think one family group and individual has to take a look at what the risk is to your particular situation,” Fauci said. “If you have people like elderly, or individuals who are compromising because of underlying conditions, you want to take a couple of steps back and said it is worth it for this year to bring those people together when you don’t know what the status of everybody in the pod that you’ve created is.”
He also discussed his perspective on locking things down again.
“We don’t want to shut down completely, that’s almost radioactive now, when you say that -- because of the situation of not wanting to hurt the economy,” Fauci said.
Fauci addressed the question on so many Americans' minds: When can the country get back to normal?
“If we get a vaccine campaign by the second or third quarter of 2021, we have vaccinated a substantial proportion of the people -- I think it will be easily by the end of 2021 -- and perhaps into the next year -- before we have some semblance of normality," Fauci said.
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