The risks of reopening the economy too soon in the US

While Trump’s administration has been pressing for weeks to reopen the economy in the United States amid the coronavirus pandemic, the United States government’s top infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci has warned that the consequences of such action could be very serious if they proceed too quickly while the virus is still spreading.

On Tuesday Fauci said that it is going to be inevitable to see an increase of Covid-19 cases as people start going out to the streets and start gathering in large groups. Fauci also said that even though the containment is moving in the right direction, the virus is nowhere near under control yet.

“It would almost run the clock back rather than forward. That is my major concern,” said Fauci on Tuesday. His words don’t go hand-in-hand with president Trump’s declaration on Monday when he said that “the United States have met the moment and together the nation has prevailed.”

Dr. Fauci told the senate on Tuesday that Americans will face “needless suffering and death” if the U.S. prematurely reopens its economy while the coronavirus is still a threat. As the states start reopening their economy many people won’t be following the ‘social distance’ guidelines and that is a major concern for Fauci.

“My concern is we will start to see little spikes that might turn into outbreaks and the consequences could be really seriou. Some suffering and death,” Fauci said.

The US has seen at least 1.3 million infections and more than 81,000 confirmed deaths from the virus, the highest toll in the world by far, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.