Coronavirus outbreaks should pause reopening, not close again, says Fauci

New measures in Texas for increased contagion 2:40

(CNN) –– States with increasing peaks in coronavirus cases can still contain them by suspending their reopening processes, rather than closing a second time, Dr. Anthony Fauci, one of the leading experts in infectious diseases, said Thursday. from the United States.

Fauci's comments, during an event hosted by The Hill news outlet, contrast with what he himself noted just a day earlier: that states with a serious coronavirus problem "should seriously consider shutting down."

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"Instead of thinking in terms of going back to full closure, I would think we need to make states pause their opening process," Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told Steve Clemons, contributing editor of The Hill, this Thursday.

Fauci added that the variety of people the virus affects - from those who are asymptomatic to those who end up in intensive care or die - makes the pandemic really difficult to control.

“It's not because of hyperbolic about it: [Coronavirus] really is the perfect storm, it's the worst nightmare of an infectious disease and of public health personnel. It is an incredibly transmissible virus, "she said. "The efficiency with which this transmits is really amazing," he added.

Four states that account for about 50% of new infections - Arizona, California, Florida and Texas - need to aggressively keep people out of the loop, including closing bars and avoiding crowds, he warned.

"If we can do that consistently, I will tell you, almost certainly, that you will see a downward curve of those infections," added Fauci.

This Wednesday, Fauci told The Wall Street Journal that a second shutdown could be the best decision for states facing growing cases of coronavirus and hospitalizations.

"I think any state that is having a serious problem, that state should seriously consider shutting down," Fauci told the media in a podcast.

He also added at the time that simple steps, less severe than economic closings, could help, such as crowd control, wearing face masks, and doing a better job of physical distance.

The country and some states are already reaching records in the daily average of officially reported cases, as intensive care units reach capacity. Additionally, most states record spikes again, reminiscent of the uncertainty of months ago when the virus broke out.

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Another health expert echoed Fauci's initial comment about new closings.

"If they are not doing the ... things we've talked about before to control this outbreak, starting with testing and tracking ... their only option is to shut down," Dr. Ali Khan, former director of the Office of Preparedness Preparation, told CNN. public health from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), this Thursday.

Rising case numbers have motivated many states to pause or reverse plans to reopen economies after widespread closings in the spring.

The United States surpassed 3 million cases of coronavirus this week, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. At least 33 states, as of this Thursday morning, have seen an upward trend in the average of daily infections - an increase of at least 10% - during the last week.

Some states recently reported alarming rates of people testing positive: 28% in Arizona, 26% in Texas, and 19% in Florida, according to The Covid Tracking Project.

Previous recommendations for the reopening of economies, released by the CDC, required test positivity rates of no more than 20% just to reach the first phase, and less than 10% for more complete opening processes.

The country is still estimating the job losses left by the first confinement orders. Although millions of jobs were recovered, 18.1 million Americans currently have applications for continued unemployment, which means they filed documents for at least two consecutive weeks, the Labor Department said Thursday.

And more than 3 million Americans appear to have lost jobs that won't return soon, economists say.

What is the state of the states?

Many states suffer from the effects of increased coronavirus cases.

Texas hit a record single-day increase in coronavirus deaths Wednesday with 98 deaths. The state also reported the second highest number of daily new cases with 9,979.

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In Brooks County, South Texas, anyone who tests positive for covid-19 can be arrested if they go out into public space, unless it is for medical care or authorized by the department of health services of the state, the county attorney reported. The county, with approximately 7,000 residents, says it has 23 active cases this week.

South Texas Health System hospitals have more than doubled their usual number of beds in intensive care to cope with the influx of covid-19 patients, said Wesley Robinson, deputy director of nursing for the system, on Thursday.

They have also placed patients in conference rooms and surgical wings, Robinson told CNN. At least one of the system's hospitals, in the city of Weslaco, has installed a tent outside for people with coronavirus.

"We are all exhausted," said the director of nursing for the emergency department Pablo Laredo this Thursday. "The patients here are very sick."

The University of Mississippi Medical Center has more patients than rooms, the center's vice chancellor said Thursday in a briefing with state health officials.

Still, Dr. LouAnn Woodward said she does not advocate for a new state confinement order, but instead encourages the use of masks to reduce transmission. "We cannot confine ourselves for the duration of this pandemic," he added.

In Florida, 48 hospitals no longer had more capacity in their intensive care units for this Thursday, compared to 56 facilities two days earlier, the State Agency for Health Care Administration reported. The group has said that hospitals can add intensive unit beds in an increasing situation when needed.

Florida reported Thursday 120 deaths from covid-19 the day before, a record in a single day for the state.

Louisiana made great progress in handling the virus in June, but the past three weeks have reversed all of that with high levels of community spread, a death toll of 3,231 and a higher hospitalization rate, Gov. Jon Bel Edwards said Wednesday. .

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With the growth of hospitalizations and the spread of the virus, the mayor of New Orleans, LaToya Cantrell, announced Wednesday that bars and restaurants will be limited to 25 customers indoors, with prohibited bar seating and use mandatory face masks.

California, one of the first states to implement restrictions to stop the spread of the virus and one of the longest it took to suspend them, is now struggling with an increasingly dire situation.

In Los Angeles, rates of coronavirus infection are on the rise, and hospitalization rates have increased to levels not seen since April, Health Director Barbara Ferrer announced at a press conference Wednesday.

The city is currently at a high level of risk and could worsen in the next two weeks, according to Mayor Eric Garcetti. If it reaches the next level of threat, Los Angeles is likely to return to a more secure confinement order, he said.

Tracy Harris, custodian of the Des Moines Public Schools, cleans the chairs in a classroom at Brubaker Elementary School.

Back to school is still questioned

As cases and hospitalizations increase, the answer to the question of whether children will return to school in the fall becomes less clear.

Fauci, in an interview scheduled to air this Friday on Sirius XM Radio, said: "We should try to open schools," but emphasized that elementary schools may have different approaches to universities.

"If you keep children out of school, the unintended negative ripple effect can be profound with respect to what do parents do, then stay away from work to care for their children?" Fauci said in recordings released this Thursday.

"So the general approach would obviously be ... paying attention to the safety of children, which is always paramount, but in the context of doing everything possible to safeguard the health and well-being of children, we should try to open schools." , full.

President Donald Trump said he will pressure governors to reopen schools in the fall and has threatened to cut federal funds from schools that do not resume activities.

The White House has also claimed that CDC's guidelines for reopening schools are too strict. This Thursday, the agency's director, Dr. Robert Redfield, said they will not review its guidelines.

Instead, additional reference documents will be provided, Redfield told ABC's "Good Morning America."

There are still mysteries about how the virus affects children. At first, experts thought that children did not contract the virus as often and were not as affected.

But a study published in the Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics found that children do not have the same coronavirus symptoms as adults and that covid-19 tests do not identify cases in children.

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CDC guidelines recommend evaluating only patients with fever, cough, and shortness of breath, who traveled to high-risk countries and who had close contact with someone with a confirmed case.

But the children who tested positive for the study were admitted to the hospital with apparently unrelated symptoms, including bacterial infections, appendicitis, and inflamed muscles. The researchers say it is unclear how important the role of the coronavirus was in their disease.

CNN's Jeremy Grisham, Melissa Alonso, Kay Jones, Kristen Holmes, Jenn Selva, Pierre Meilhan, Raja Razek and Sarah Moon all contributed to this report.

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