Fauci joins the voices that ask to relax the measures against covid

“The world is up to here from covid, people need to get their lives back.” It was not said by the anti-vaccine protesters in Canada, but by Anthony Fauci himself, demonized by them as the author of the measures against which they are protesting. The chief epidemiologist of the United States knows that, two years into the pandemic, it is time to relax. The question is how much.

The Center for Infectious Disease Control (CDC) is studying the question at the moment and, in particular, whether to remove the masks. The Canadian neighbor has changed the travel requirements of the PCR tests to the antigen test, much cheaper and faster, as of February 28, and the state of Ontario, epicenter of the protests, stopped requiring the passport on Thursday covid inside the establishments.

In the United States, “and particularly in certain parts,” Fauci stressed in an interview with Reuters, Covid fatigue is even more serious. This 81-year-old epidemiologist who has worked in public health for the US government since the time of Ronald Reagan knows how to calculate the political cost and promises to find a balance that even he himself does not know at this time. What is he recommending to President Joe Biden, for whom he is his medical adviser? “You don’t want to be reckless now and take it all back, but you have to start inch by inch until you get there,” he told Reuters.

What is evaluated in this delicate balance is not only the political cost but also the impact of the measures on mental health, the development of children, schools, businesses and so many other things sacrificed for “immaculate” protection. against the virus. Fauci also understands that the vaccine has not offered the immunity that many expected, but he has not given up hope that one will emerge that completely protects from infection. In fact, those that aspire to that are still in development.

Vaccine Combination

The chief epidemiologist of the United States explained that they are nasal vaccines that prevent the virus from entering our body through the respiratory tract, “but if that barrier is jumped, what will happen? That you’ll have an even worse case. That is why it may have to be the combination of both vaccines.”

It is not what those who already have three or four in the body want to hear, but it would reassure those who have not been able to overcome their fear. Despite the fact that the contagion curve has dropped 40% this week compared to the previous one, and hospital admissions have fallen 28%, 2,200 people still die every day in the United States. By the time President Biden addresses the floor of Congress and the nation on the next day one, the outlook should be even brighter, three days from the second anniversary of the death of an American from covid.

Biden will have to acknowledge that, for many, these have probably been the worst years of his life, but also offer hope of a resurgence and get the country excited about another Phoenix story. Americans don’t like losing wars out of boredom, but if this war makes them stronger and more powerful, they will accept the sacrifice. That is the part that Biden has not yet been able to tie, with a divided Solomonic Congress.