Dr. Fauci says drinking at bars should stop ‘right now’ to stem spread of COVID-19
Source: https://nypost.com/
By Jack Hobbs
July 1, 2020
As coronavirus cases are rising in a number of states, Dr. Anthony Fauci is calling out one culprit in particular for the spike: bars.
Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said in a Senate hearing Tuesday that people should stop going to bars “right now” – just as states like Texas and Florida, both of which have seen a dramatic uptick in the number of cases, were recently forced to close their bars a second time to stem the spread of the virus.
“Congregation at a bar, inside, is bad news,” Fauci said. “We really got to stop that right now.”
“I think we need to emphasize the responsibility that we have both as individuals and as part of a societal effort to end the epidemic that we all have to play a part in that.”
Texas, which until recently was fully open for business, has now become one of the latest epicenters of the virus, logging almost 6,000 new cases daily.
Enlarge ImageDr. Anthony Fauci at the Senate Hearing on Tuesday
Dr. Anthony Fauci at the Senate hearing on TuesdayAl Drago – Pool via CNP / MEGA
In addition to his dire warning about social distancing, Fauci said he would not be surprised if the US reached over 100,000 new cases of the virus a day.
“We are now having 40-plus thousand new cases a day. I would not be surprised if we go up to 100,000 a day if this does not turn around. And so I am very concerned . it could get very bad.”
As of Tuesday, the US has more than 2.6 million confirmed cases of coronavirus, according to Johns Hopkins University.