Dr Fauci says the world will never get ‘back to normal’ because coronavirus ‘threat’ will remain

The world will never return to what was considered ‘normal’ before the novel coronavirus emerged four months ago, Dr Anthony Fauci says, as the national COVID-19 death toll hits 11,000. 

Across the nation as of Monday evening there are over 368,254 cases of the virus with hotspots in New York, Michigan and Louisiana. 

The US is now barreling towards the infection’s projected peak day on April 16 when experts predict there will be over 3,000 deaths in 24 hours.

Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, made the somber prediction at Monday’s White House press briefing after a reporter asked whether the US will be able to ‘get back to normal’ prior to the introduction of a universal vaccine for COVID-19.  

‘If “back to normal” means acting like there never was a coronavirus problem, I don’t think that’s going to happen until we do have a situation where you can completely protect the population [with a vaccine],’ Fauci said before clarifying his previous use of the phrase.    

‘When we say “getting back to normal” we mean something very different from what we’re going through right now, because right now we are in a very intense mitigation.’ 

‘We will go back gradually to the point [where] we can function as a society. You’re absolutely right,’ Fauci said. 

‘If you want to get to pre-coronavirus, that might not ever happen in the sense of the fact that the threat is there.’ 

Fauci has previously predicted that the novel coronavirus will likely come back seasonally every year.

But on Monday he expressed optimism about the future, given the number of promising therapies and potential vaccines currently in the pipeline.  

He said that in light of the scientific progress, he feels ‘confident that we will never have to get back to where we are right now’.

‘If that means getting back to normal, then we will get back to normal,’ he added. 

President Donald Trump then stepped back to the podium to offer his own insights on the question, declaring that he has ‘total confidence’ in companies working on vaccines. 

He also suggested that the US economy will come back even stronger than it was before, thanks to the ‘tremendous stimulus we are giving’. 

Asked whether federal social distancing guidelines will be lifted on April 30 as planned, Trump declined to comment. 

But he did say that those restrictions have ‘exceeded expectations’ for slowing the spread of COVID-19 in eight states.  

New York remains the epicenter of the US outbreak, with more than 131,000 infections and over 4,000 deaths 

Now Michigan, Louisiana and Georgia are bracing to become the next hotspots based on the current rate of deaths and positive coronavirus tests in those areas.  

Forecasters at the University of Washington’s School of Medicine released updated coronavirus estimates on Sunday that showed the peak of the pandemic could be over quicker than initially thought and level out as early as June.

The estimated peak day of the outbreak is expected to occur in nine days on April 16 with a projected 3,130 deaths that day, the data shows.

Peak resource use for hospitals is predicted to occur on April 15 – the day before the peak death toll – where an estimated 25,000 ventilators, 140,000 beds and 29,000 ICU beds will be needed.

Data shows there will be a shortage of 36,000 hospital beds and 16,000 ICU beds by that day.