Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, is confused as to why the nation hasn’t been shut down.
“I don’t understand why that’s not happening,” Fauci said, during CNN’s coronavirus town hall with Anderson Cooper, questioning why every state hadn’t issued stay-at-home orders amid the coronavirus pandemic.
“You know, the tensions between federally mandated versus states’ rights to do what they want is something I don’t want to get into,” he said. “But if you look at what’s going on in this country, I just don’t understand why we’re not doing that.”
According to CNN, 30 states, along with DC, have issued orders to promote social distancing. But, for the remaining states who have yet to issue stay-at-home orders, Fauci believes its time to act now, as nationwide cases topped 236,000 on Thursday.
In addition to the importance of issuing stay at home orders nationwide, Fauci also opened up about the dangers of pulling back too soon.
“If you back off, and you don’t mitigate, there is a possibility that number (of deaths) will go up,” Fauci said. “And that is the worst possible thing in the world you want to see. And that’s the reason why I am so adamant about when we say we have got to follow those guidelines; you really got to take it seriously.”
