Dr. Anthony Fauci: The U.S. will likely not return to life resembling “real normality” until 2021

Dr. Anthony Fauci is back. Last week, he warned the nation that coronvirus ‘nightmare’ pandemic isn’t close to over. In an interview at a virtual conference held by the Biotechnology Innovation Organization, the nation’s top infectious disease expert said the coronavirus is his “worst nightmare” and warned that the fight against its spread is far from over.  The bleak outlook from Fauci comes as the US continues to slowly reopen from lockdown while grappling with massive protests in cities over the police killing of George Floyd.

Over the weekend, Dr. Fauci is sounding the same alarm saying the U.S. will likely not return to life resembling “real normality” until next year. “I would hope to get to some degree of real normality within a year or so. But I don’t think it’s this winter or fall,” Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told British newspaper The Telegraph on Sunday.

Dr. Fauci also expressed concerns about the surge in coronvirus cases in 14 U.S. states and millions of people around the world protesting racial injustice and police brutality following the death of George Floyd.

“We were successful in suppressing the virus in cities where there were major outbreaks – New York, Chicago, Detroit, New Orleans,” he told The Telegraph. “But we’re seeing several states, as they try to reopen and get back to normal, starting to see early indications [that] infections are higher than previously.”

He said that without measures to contain the virus, the states are at risk of experiencing a “full-blown” outbreak.

“The question is will they have the capability to do the appropriate and effective isolation, and contact tracing, to prevent this increase from becoming a full blown outbreak? I’m concerned it’s happening. I hope the individual states can blunt that. It [the virus] could go on for a couple of cycles, coming back and forth. I would hope to get to some degree of real normality within a year or so. But I don’t think it’s this winter or fall, we’ll be seeing it for a bit more.”

In the meantime, Dr. Fauci walked back the comments he made last month about the inevitability of the second wave of coronavirus. Now, Fauci is saying the second wave is ‘not inevitable’ even with spike in coronavirus cases in 14 US states. Fauci said:

“It is not inevitable that you will have a so-called ‘second wave’ in the fall, or even a massive increase, if you approach it in the proper way.”

“However, when you start to see increases in hospitalization, that’s a surefire situation that you’ve got to pay close attention to.”

Dr. Fauci ended on optimistic note, saying:

“This will end. As stressful and devastating as it is, it will end,” Fauci told Telegraph. “We are all in it together as a global community, and I do see the light at the end of the tunnel.”