By President Biden’s top infectious disease adviser, Anthony Fauci, is back out in public and is once again warning that the country may have to lock down if COVID cases begin to rise in the United States. Case counts are growing in Europe. Called “Dr. Doom” by some media outlets, he told CNN, “Without a doubt, opening up society and having people mingle indoors is clearly something that is a contributor, as well as overall waning immunity, which means we’ve really got to stay heads-up and keep our eye on the pattern here.”
Despite not being as deadly as the ones that came before, the new BA.2 variant is expected to hit our shores and cause a spike in cases. Vaccines protect against this variant.
ABC News reported, “Experts fear that COVID-19 cases in the United States will rise in the next few weeks as the new BA.2 variant continues to spread.
Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows BA.2, which is a subvariant of omicron, has been tripling in prevalence every two weeks.
As of the week ending March 11, BA.2 makes up 23.1% of all COVID cases in the U.S. compared to 7.1% of all cases the week ending Feb. 26, according to the CDC.
Although the original omicron variant still makes up the majority of America’s COVID infections, its prevalence has dropped over the same period, from 74.5% to 66.1%.”
Fauci concluded: “We can’t just say, ‘We’re done. We’re going to move on.’ We’ve got to be able to be flexible because we’re dealing with a dynamic situation.” The interview coincided with nice spring weather across the country and saw Americans going outside, taking hikes, firing up the grill, and enjoying each other’s company.
For his part, Dr. Fauci seems to be enjoying company too. The infectious disease expert will be speaking at Princeton University’s 2022 Class Day on May 23, 2022. The event is a day before commencement. His book, Expect the Unexpected: Ten Lessons on Truth, Service, and the Way Forward was “scrubbed” from Amazon after emails came to light from the early days of the pandemic.
In a video message to fellow seniors, Class Day co-chairs Julia Chaffers, Sarah Lee and Christian Potter, “This year’s speaker is undoubtedly among the small handful of leaders who have had the largest global impact over the past few years. Few people better represent Princeton’s unofficial motto, ‘In the nation’s service and the service of humanity.” Fauci’s speaking fees range from $50,000 to $100,000.
