Dr. Anthony Fauci, the country's leading disease and infectious expert argued on Thursday with a Republican lawmaker when the COVID-19 restrictions could be lifted. According to a recently published article on ABC News, Fauci said that this could only happen if the infection rate will be under 10,000 cases a day.
Fauci Explains When COVID-19 Restrictions can be Lifted
An exchange of words between Fauci and Republican lawmaker Jim Jordan happened during the congressional hearing when the latter asked Fauci when the Americans could have their normal or pre-pandemic lives back.
Besides citing the number of cases a day as a response, Fauci also said that there is still a lot of work to do before it could happen. But the Republican lawmaker was not satisfied with Fauci's answer and demanded a clearer explanation, according to Everett Post.
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Fauci's Argument With Jordan
Jordan asked, "What is low enough? Give me a number," citing the number of church attendees as an example. Fauci replied, "That would be that the number of infections per day are well below 10,000 per day."
The country's leading disease and infectious expert also added that "At that point, there would be a gradual pulling back of some of the restrictions you're talking about." The argument, however, further escalated when Fauci accused Jordan of ranting.
In a recently published article on Yahoo News, Fauci told Jordan "I think you're making this a personal thing, and it isn't," to which Jordan responded that what he asked was not personal.
Fauci then shot back, "No, you are! That is exactly what you're doing. We're not talking about liberties. We're talking about a pandemic that has killed 562,000 Americans." Fauci seemed frustrated with how Jordan asked him when people could return to their pre-pandemic lives.
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COVID-19 Cases in the U.S.
The United States remains to have the highest number of infections in the world. The weekly average COVID-19 cases in the country remain around 67,000, which is 6 percent higher in the last seven days, according to the data of the Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center.
Dr. Rochelle Walensky, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) director, sounded the alarm also last month as the number of COVID-19 cases across the country started to increase again. It happened after states began to lift the restrictions as the vaccinations were underway.
The CDC director said during the White House briefing, "I'm going to reflect on the recurring feeling I have of impending doom. We have so much to look forward to, so much promise and potential of where we are, and so much reason for hope. But right now, I'm scared."
As of this time, only 20 percent of the U.S. population has been fully vaccinated. Many U.S. health experts remained cautious in the call to ease the restrictions as the number of COVID-19 cases increased while the vaccination rate remains slow.
