Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert, said the United States didn’t shut down entirely, and now we are seeing surges in cases in several states across the nation.
“It is very clear – and we know this from countries throughout the world – that if you physically separate people, to the point of not allowing the virus to transmit … We know that we can do that if we shut down, " Fauci said while speaking during a webinar with the Stanford School of Medicine on Monday.
“We did not shut down entirely – and that's the reason why, when we went up, we started to come down, and then we plateaued at a level that was really quite high – about 20,000 infections a day,” Fauci said.
“Then, as we started to reopen, we're seeing the surges that we're seeing today, as we speak, in California, your own state, in Arizona, in Texas, in Florida, and in several other states," he explained.
Fauci said, however, that he is “confident” the US can get a handle on this situation.
“You don’t necessarily need to shut down again, but pull back a bit. And then, proceed in a very prudent way, observing the guidelines of going from step to step,” he said.