Fauci Says States Need to Be ‘Careful and Prudent’ About Reopening: We Don’t Want ‘A Resurgence of Infections’

Dr. Anthony Fauci appeared on CNN Friday with Wolf Blitzer to warn that states need to be very careful as they slowly reopen and ease restrictions.

Blitzer asked if the U.S. has “stalled” in the coronavirus fight. Fauci said we’re seeing “something obviously that’s disturbing now,” saying states need to reopen “in a way that’s careful and prudent.”

He emphasized the continued importance of physical distancing and wearing masks because “we don’t want to see a resurgence of infections.”

“If you leapfrog over different phases, you increase the risk that you’re going to have the kind of resurgences that we’re seeing in certain of the states,” Fauci said. “So everybody understands the need — the important need — to get back to some sort of normality, but you don’t want to do it at the sacrifice of greatly increasing the risk.”

Blitzer asked if states that are seeing increases in cases should be slowing down their reopenings for the time being.

Fauci responded, “When you see more percentage of the tests that are positive and more hospitalizations, that’s something that should get you to pause and say, ‘Wait a minute, let’s rethink this and see where we’re going, maybe we need to slow down a little, maybe we need to intensify our capabilities to identify, isolate, and contact trace. We don’t want it to get out of hand again.'”

You can watch above, via CNN.

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