Prepare for ‘more deaths,’ Dr. Fauci warns as U.S. coronavirus cases spike (another flip-flop?)

Dr. Anthony Fauci is back again with his gloom and doom forecast. As coronavirus cases spike in major states across the U.S., Dr. Fauci warned on Friday that the country will soon “be seeing more deaths.” In an interview with CNBC’s Meg Tirrell that was aired by the Milken Institute, Dr. Fauci said, “There are more cases. There are more hospitalizations in some of those places and soon you’ll be seeing more deaths.”

However, Dr. Fauci’s latest warning contradicts what he said in an article he co-authored in March, which was published on March 26 in the New England Journal of Medicine. According to the article titled, “Covid-19 — Navigating the Uncharted,” Dr. Fauci and two other co-authors said the case fatality rate for the coronavirus would turn out to be like that of a “severe seasonal influenza.”

“If one assumes that the number of asymptomatic or minimally symptomatic cases is several times as high as the number of reported cases, the case fatality rate may be considerably less than 1%. This suggests that the overall clinical consequences of Covid-19 may ultimately be more akin to those of a severe seasonal influenza (which has a case fatality rate of approximately 0.1%) or a pandemic influenza (similar to those in 1957 and 1968) rather than a disease similar to SARS or MERS, which have had case fatality rates of 9 to 10% and 36%, respectively.2″

This is not the first time Dr. Fauci has flip-flopped on the coronavirus issue. In April, 2020, Dr. Fauci stated that cloth facial coverings can stop big droplets and “asymptomatic spread.” Then on May 25, Dr. Fauci stated on CNN that facial coverings are “not effective,” but to continue wearing them as a symbol of “respect for other person.” A couple of days later, Dr. Fauci said on CNN that “it is no longer necessary to wipe surfaces and groceries.”

In fact, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top White House infectious disease expert, co-authored an article published March 26 in the New England Journal of Medicine predicting the case fatality rate for the coronavirus would turn out to be like that of a “severe seasonal influenza.”

The problem with his latest warning is that, even though the number of cases and hospitalizations have increased, the mortality rate continues to decline. During the coronavirus task force (of which Dr. Fauci is part of) briefing in Washington on Friday, Vice President Mike Pence said that the “fatalities are declining all across the country.” He also called the rise in new cases in people under 35 “very encouraging news,” saying they aren’t as likely to die from COVID-19.

Dr. Scott Atlas, former chief of neuroradiology at Stanford University Medical Center and a senior fellow at Stanford’s Hoover Institution, also echoed a similar message last week. Dr Atlas said that  the rise in coronavirus hospitalizations among young people is a good thing because it leads to herd immunity over the long term.

Last Thursday, the U.S. reported 39,972 new coronvirus cases, more cases in a single day than ever before, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. However, as coronavirus cases have risen in recent weeks, new deaths have steadily decreased, but Dr. Fauci warned that trend might not last for long.

“The young people who are infected and don’t know they’re infected … they may be inadvertently infecting the people who are susceptible to greater complications. Then you start seeing greater hospitalizations and deaths,” Fauci said. “It may take a few weeks, but we’ll see that and that’s my concern.”

You can watch the video of his interview below.

Below is another video of Dr. Fauci interview on CNN.