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WASHINGTON DC – While it may appear that North Carolina has reached a crucial milestone for COVID-19 return to normal this week, Dr.Anthony Fauci expresses his concern for states that have given up on regulating the limits of the social life.
In an interview with Meet the Press host Chuck Todd, Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, warned of what he believes is the premature lifting of restrictions in some states.
North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia all eased major restrictions on Friday, as did Massachusetts, Arkansas and Wyoming. Several other states have relaxed some levels of restrictions. The relaxation of the rules came days after the nation passed the 500,000 death mark from COVID-19.
“We had a chart showing a dozen states, some like North Carolina allowing more fans in the stands, we had more indoor bars open and things like that,” Todd began. “And you and Dr. [Rochelle] Walensky was like “not yet”. Why not yet? Why is this week not yet the week to ease restrictions? “
“It is really too premature right now to go back too far,” said Fauci, who has fallen in the public eye since the start of the pandemic. “I’m afraid we’re still at that 70,000 level [infections per day] and when people start to pull away from mitigation methods and mitigation activities, you run the risk, and it’s a real risk, to see it come back up and it’s not something I imagine. Go back and look at the surges we’ve had over the past year, that was always at a time when you wanted to retire. “
“Because we’ve been in this situation before,” Fauci replied. “When you start to see a drop in the number of cases, if you prematurely lift the restrictions, we have some examples of a rebound.”
“Our daily infection base now, although far from where it was, over 300,000 a day, has dropped to around 70,000. That base is too high.
A new executive order that took effect on Friday ended a statewide curfew and allows bars to fill up to 30% of their indoor capacity. Indoor gatherings have gone from 10 to 25 people. The average number of new cases in North Carolina is down, with 2,636 new cases at the last report, the lowest number since mid-November. The NC COVID-19 dashboard was not updated with new statistics on Sunday.
“Once you start to back down, the thing you don’t want is to have a plateau at such a high level that things will inevitably go up,” Fauci said. “This is the reason why. We understand the need and the desire, of course, to want to step back because things are going in the right direction. You have to lower that baseline lower than it is now, especially in light of the fact that we have some disturbing variants that are in places like California and New York and others that we are monitoring. This is really too premature at the moment. “
Earlier this week, high school football started in the state and some sites have allowed fans. The UNC men’s basketball team played in front of about 3,000 fans in an upset victory over Florida State at the Smith Center on Saturday.
The Carolina Hurricanes expect to welcome up to 2,800 fans at PNC Arena for the next few games. Governor Cooper’s latest executive order, which goes into effect Friday, would allow the Hurricanes and others to fill up to 15% of their arena’s capacity.
As for what doesn’t change, the statewide mask requirement and 6-foot separation guidelines remain in place, and restaurants and breweries must adhere to a 50% capacity rule. .
“Relaxing these restrictions will only work if we continue to protect ourselves and others from this deadly pandemic,” Cooper noted in announcing the order. “[This] action is a demonstration of trust and confidence, but we have to be careful. “
“North Carolina’s health protocols have been stronger than many states, and the governor has relied on science and data to carefully ease restrictions to advance our economy while protecting public health,” Governor Cooper’s press secretary Dory MacMillan told WRAL on Sunday.
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