A top official at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has compared the coronavirus outbreak to the early days of the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
Dr Anthony Fauci has been director of the NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease since 1984 and was a central figure during the global crisis.
He said that while the virus at the center of each are different, the fear and anxiety among the general public are similar.
‘It’s not that different than the very early years of the HIV epidemic, of the anthrax attacks, of the concern about the pre-pandemic bird flu,’ Dr Fauci told CNN’s New Day.
‘Everything has a little bit of a different twist to it. It’s not exactly the same, but there’s always that uncertainty that gets people very anxious.’
Dr Anthony Fauci of the National Institutes of Health compared the coronavirus outbreak to the HIV/AIDS epidemic of the 1980s. Pictured: Fauci on Meet the Press
Fauci stressed on Sunday that the elderly and those with underlying conditions are more at risk than healthy people. This is contrast with messages from officials in the Trump administration who have tried to downplay the severity of the outbreak. Pictured: Fauci, left, and Pence, right
In the US, nearly 630 people have been sickened by the virus and 22 people have died
However, Dr Fauci also stressed that researchers are collecting new data every day because so much about the virus is unknown.
‘We’re gathering information, we’re learning a lot, but there’s still a lot that’s unknown about where this is going,’ he told host Alisyn Camerota.
‘You always almost have a fog of war about it.’
Other recent comments from Dr Fauci signaled a change in tone from the administration regarding who is most at risk.
He stated that those with underlying health conditions are much more likely to suffer complications if they contract the disease.
Worldwide, more than 110,000 people have been infected and more than 3,800 people have died
“If you are an elderly person with an underlying condition, if you get infected, the risk of getting into trouble is considerable,’ he told Meet the Press on Sunday.
‘If you’re a person with an underlying condition and you are particularly an elderly person with an underlying condition, you need to think twice about getting on a plane, on a long trip.’
This echoes past remarks from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which has stated that people with pre-existing conditions are twice as likely to have serious outcomes compared to healthy people.
It comes as The Associated Press reports that the White House overruled a CDC warning advising elderly and ‘physical fragile’ Americans from flying.
The CDC allegedly submitted the plan among a list of recommendations to control the spread of the virus, but the Trump administration demanded it be removed.
Officials denied the report, including Katie Miller, the spokeswoman for Vice President Pence, who called it ‘complete fiction.’
It comes as the White House allegedly overruled a CDC warning advising elderly and ‘physical fragile’ Americans from flying. Pictured: Medics transport a patient into an ambulance at the Life Care Center of Kirkland, in Washington – linked to several coronavirus cases – on March 6
Dr Fauci says a vaccine against coronavirus is vital, but at least one year away. Pictured: A patient is loaded into an ambulance outside the Life Care Center of Kirkland in Washington, March 7
There have been complaints for weeks that President Donald Trump has been trying to downplay how severe the outbreak is, leading to mixed messaging from the administration.
In spite of the contradictions, Dr Fauci says he hopes the coronavirus outbreak disappears similarly to how SARS did in 2003.
However, because coronavirus could be a seasonal disease, he said a vaccine is vital – but is more than a year away from being able to be distributed.
Worldwide, more than 111,000 people have been infected and nearly 3,900 people have died.
In the US, there are more than 600 cases in 34 states and 22 people – in California, Florida and Washington – have died.