Claiming the lives of more than 446,929 people worldwide, the novel coronavirus that originated from Wuhan, China, is continuing its killing spree all over the world. One of the worst affected countries, the United States, did not propagate the use of face masks to the general public in the initial days of the pandemic. And now, Anthony Fauci, one of the former lead members of the Trump Administration's White House Coronavirus Task Force, has revealed why the government did this despite the possibility of community spread.
Shortage of Masks Created Chaos
In a recent interaction with The Street, Fauci revealed that masks were initially not recommended, as the first responders would not feel the strain of PPE shortage.
''The reason for that is that we were concerned the public health community and many people were saying this, were concerned that it was at a time when personal protective equipment, including the N95 masks and the surgical masks, were in very short supply. And we wanted to make sure that the people namely, the health care workers, who were brave enough to put themselves in a harm way, to take care of people who you know were infected with the coronavirus and the danger of them getting infected," Fauci told The Street.
Fauci also explained the necessity of using masks to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. According to Fauci, masks can protect people to a certain degree, especially when someone is coughing or sneezing. However, he made it clear that physical separation is the key to preventing the spread of the coronavirus.
"It can protect you a certain degree, not a hundred percent, in protecting you from getting infected from someone who, either is breathing, or coughing, or sneezing, or singing or whatever it is in which the droplets or the aerosols go out. So masks work. The important thing is actually physical separation," added Fauci.
Will Coronavirus Just Disappear?
A few weeks back, President Donald Trump had claimed that the coronavirus will "just disappear" from the US. Fauci, at that time, had dismissed the claims, making it clear that the pandemic will not just disappear, but it may resurge if adequate safeguards are not taken. Fauci had also said that COVID-19 is not a pathogen that was deliberately created by China.
