Dr. Fauci Says COVID-19 Cases Are Rising With Another Possible Lockdown; & Also Says He’s Ready To Retire: ‘I Can’t Stay At This Job Forever’
White House coronavirus adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci warns that America has more COVID-19 cases on the rise, facing another possible lockdown! He also says he’s ready to retire, claiming, “I can’t stay at this job forever.” While speaking with CNN on Thursday (Mar. 17), America’s top infectious-disease expert warned about rising cases of the latest variant, BA.2, and what it may bring.
Fauci said, “If in fact we do see a turnaround and a resurgence, we have to be able to pivot and go back to any degree of mitigation that is commensurate with what the situation is. 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.” Fauci says the BA.2 subvariant, which has spiked in the United Kingdom, could see a surge here in that U.S. and be as infectious as Omicron, but less fatal. He explains, “The overall mortality is actually down. It’s a very interesting situation where the cases are going up, but it does not, at this point in time, appear to be any degree of severity. We generally follow what goes on the UK by about two to three weeks. I would not be surprised in the next few weeks, given the fact that we’ve begun to open up, and we have an increase in the BA.2 variant, that we’ll be seeing an increase in cases.”
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While speaking with ABC News separately, Fauci suggested he’s ready to leave his post and retire. He said, “I have said that I would stay in what I’m doing until we get out of the pandemic phase and I think we might be there already, if we can stay in this. I can’t stay at this job forever. Unless my staff is gonna find me slumped over my desk one day. I’d rather not do that. I, unfortunately, am somewhat of a unidimensional physician, scientist, public health person. When I do decide I’m going to step down, whenever that is, I’m going to have to figure out what it is I’m going to do. I’d love to spend more time with my wife and family. That would really be good.”
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