Fauci urges American public to double down on COVID-19 safety measures amid surge

Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, called on Americans to double down on health precautions like wearing a mask or face covering, social distancing and more as COVID-19 cases continue to spike across the country.

Fauci told “Good Morning America” on Thursday that “What we need to do is what we’ve been talking about for some time now, but really doubling down on it. There are certain fundamental, baseline things that you can do: universal and uniform wearing of masks; avoiding crowded, congregate situations; keeping physical distance.”

“Even though the weather is in the season of cool weather, try as best as possible to do things outdoors, preferentially over indoors, and wash your hands as frequently as you can,” he continued. 

The U.S. surpassed 10 million COVID-19 infections this week and reported 142,860 cases on Wednesday alone. Infections across the country began spiking in September, and they have continued to rapidly increase. 

Asked on Thursday if the recent election is having “any type of action as we continue to fight this virus,” Fauci vowed that health officials and researchers are “pushing ahead on the development of vaccines and on countermeasures” amid the ongoing pandemic. 

“Certainly it’s having no impact negatively on our ability, as well as our activity in developing vaccines and developing countermeasures. The medical part of it just keeps going forward,” he told “Good Morning America.” 

Fauci added that there is “no appetite” for implementing additional lockdowns for individuals and businesses among the American public. He added that he hopes people can stem the spread of the virus through measures like wearing masks and social distancing.

“You could still get businesses going. You could still get economic forward thinking while you’re doing that. You don’t necessarily have to shut everything down. Hopefully we won’t have to do that. If we can do the public health measures, we wouldn’t have to do that,” Fauci told “Good Morning America.” 

“If we could just hang in there, do the public health measures that we’re talking about, we’re going to get this under control, I promise you,” he continued.