Fauci meets the CT press: State ‘is in a good place’

“Connecticut is in a good place,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIH), declared at Gov. Ned Lamont’s press briefing on Monday.

Noting Connecticut’s low infection rate ”“ which has been hovering around 1% for weeks and now stands at 0.7%, according to Lamont ”“ Fauci, appearing via Zoom, said: “It is not inevitable that your numbers will go up,” as long as its residents continue to practice such mitigation procedures as wearing face masks, maintaining social distance of six feet, and practicing good hand hygiene.

“You are in a situation where you now in many respects have the upper hand,” he continued, saying Connecticut can now fight additional cases from the preferable position of containment, versus mitigation.

Nevertheless, Fauci warned, “You need to be very flexible” as the COVID-19 situation evolves.

“This is a very serious situation that our country is facing,” the NIH director said. “We’ve gotten hit quite badly.”

As he has in the past, Fauci said he believed the nation’s race to reopen its businesses, particularly in the South, took place too quickly, with the result that where the U.S. was once recording about 20,000 cases per day, it is now regularly seeing at least twice that daily number.

The NIH director also repeated his “cautious optimism” that a vaccine could be available by the end of this year, with widespread distribution taking place starting in 2021 and continuing through that year.

School days
When it came to the inevitable questions about returning to school, Fauci said that while “There is always a risk” of outbreaks, “the default position should be to try as best as you possibly can to open up schools for in-person learning.”

Benefits of that approach include the psychological benefits of in-person learning for students, he said, as well as in some cases the nutritional benefit for underprivileged children of being served breakfast and lunch at school.

“The big ‘however’ there,” he continued, “is that the primary consideration should always be the safety, the health and the welfare of the children, as well as the teachers.” Preventing spread to parents and other family members is also key, he added.

Without going into great detail about his relationship with President Donald Trump, Fauci said that “Everybody knows my stance” on ingesting disinfectants to fight the virus, and that Trump “knows exactly how I feel” about the use of hydroxychloroquine in treating COVID-19.

Fauci and Lamont each complimented the other, with the governor introducing the former as “the man I always listen to. Nobody has been more helpful for me” as the pandemic has developed.

Fauci’s presence was indicative of the state’s approach, Lamont added, “We lead with science, not politics.”

The state numbers
According to the latest figures from the state Department of Health ”“ the first released since Friday ”“ Connecticut has conducted 827,213 coronavirus tests, resulting in 50,062 positive results. Hospitalizations stand at 56, while deaths total 4,437.

Fairfield County has 17,217 confirmed and 653 suspected positive cases, along with 1,096 confirmed and 312 possible COVID-related deaths. The county has 13 virus-related hospitalizations.

Municipalities with at least 1,000 cases are: Bridgeport (3,787); Stamford (3,350); New Haven (2,768); Hartford (2,729); Danbury (2,125); Waterbury (2,079); Norwalk (2,075); New Britain (1,186); West Haven (1,067); and Hamden (1,024).

The national numbers
As of this writing, there are nearly 4.7 million positive cases and over 155,000 virus-related deaths in the U.S., with over 2.3 million recovered. Globally, there are more than 18.1 million positive cases and over 690,500 deaths, with more than 10.7 million recovered.