Fauci Tells Stephanopoulos It’s ‘Too Early to Say’ on New Lockdowns, But Warns ‘We Need to Prepare for the Worst’
Dr. Anthony Fauci spoke to ABC’s George Stephanopoulos about the impending threat of the mutating Covid-19 virus and while he did not say whether new restrictions were inevitable, he warned Americans to prepare.
The new variant being discussed is Omicron, which was first identified in South Africa. Starting this Monday, the United States will begin to restrict travelers from South Africa, and seven other African countries in order to limit the new strain’s spread.
Stephanopoulos questioned Fauci on whether the U.S. will see new restrictions enacted to combat the Omicron variant, to which Fauci replied, “I don’t know, George. It’s really too early to say.”
Dr. Anthony Fauci says it’s “really too early to say” whether Americans can expect new lockdowns or mandates to combat omicron variant.
“We just really need to, as I’ve said so often, prepare for the worst.” https://t.co/E0fMRghHKQ pic.twitter.com/T3uk9MKsC1
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) November 28, 2021
Fauci continued, “We just really need to, as I’ve said so often, prepare for the worst.”
“And it may not be that we’re going to have to go the route that people are saying,” added the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, referring to the lockdowns and stay-at-home orders that were enacted in 2020.
“We don’t know a lot about this virus, so we want to prepare as best as we can,” he added.
Fauci continued to delve into whether lockdowns and restrictions of such nature would be effective at quelling the spread of the variant, “it may turn out that this preparation, although important, may not necessarily push us to the next level.”
“People [are] talking about lockdowns,” Fauci said. “Let’s see what the information that we’re getting in real time tells us and we’ll make decisions based on the science and the evidence, the way we always do.”
The Chief Medical Advisor to President Joe Biden concluded his statements to Stephanopoulos by saying, “But you want to be prepared to do anything and everything,” stressing the importance of preparation for the incoming variant.
“That’s the reason we’re paying such close attention to this and why we’re all over it.”
Watch above via ABC on Twitter
