Anthony Fauci Suggests Delta Variant Cases May Double, ‘Even If We Vaccinated Everyone Today’

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases,
J. SCOTT APPLEWHITE/POOL/AFP via Getty Images

Anthony Fauci suggested Wednesday the delta variant of Coronavirus cases “may double in the coming weeks to 200,000 cases a day,” according to an interview with McClachy.

“What we’re seeing, because of this increase in transmissibility, and because we have about 93 million people in this country who are eligible to get vaccinated who don’t get vaccinated — that you have a significant pool of vulnerable people,” Fauci said. “And so when you look at the curve of acceleration of 7-day averages of cases per day, it is going up in a very steep fashion.”

“Remember, just a couple of months ago, we were having about 10,000 cases a day,” he said. “I think you’re likely going to wind up somewhere between 100,000 and 200,000 cases … We’re now dealing with, really, a different virus … Even if we vaccinated everyone today, we’re not going to see an effect until the middle to end of September.”

“If another one comes along that has an equally high capability of transmitting but also is much more severe, then we could really be in trouble. People who are not getting vaccinated mistakenly think it’s only about them. But it isn’t. It’s about everybody else, also,” Fauci added.

Fauci’s comments come as he dismissed the idea of locking down again.

“I don’t think we’re going to see lockdowns. I think we have enough of the percentage of people in the country, not enough to crush the outbreak, but I believe enough to not allow us to get into the situation we were in last winter,” Breitbart News reported.

When Fauci was questioned August 1 if individuals were responsible for their own health being free Americans, who, if they get coronavirus, bare the choices they made. In response, Fauci, perhaps overstepping his scientific background, said individuals should lose their freedom when an issue impacts “everyone in the country.”

“The spread of infection that we’re seeing now, the surge in cases… is impacting everyone in the country,” Fauci claimed. “So although you want to respect a person’s individual right, when you’re dealing with a public health situation … you are encroaching on their individual rights because you’re making them vulnerable.”

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