Fauci: We Would Be ‘Much Better Prepared’ if Second Wave of Coronavirus Hit

In a Tuesday appearance on “CNN Newsroom,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, addressed his previous warnings that a second wave of coronavirus could hit the United States in the fall.

Fauci said if a second wave does come, he does not believe it will be as bad as the first wave has been because the country will be better prepared with a vaccine in the works and “a number” of drugs already in clinical trial.

“[I]f we do have a second wave, which as I mentioned publicly I think there is a reasonably good chance we will, given the pervasiveness of this infection and its transmissibility, I don’t think at all it will be as bad because we’ll have several things in our favor,” Fauci outlined. “One, we’ll obviously be better prepared. We’d have better equipment. We’d be able to deal with it better. But also we have a number of drugs that are in a clinical trial, and we’re pushing hard on the vaccine. Remember, I said a year to a year-and-a-half, so by next Winter, we may be able to even utilize that. So, I think I can say with some confidence that if we indeed get that second wave, we will be much, much better prepared than we are right now.”

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