US coronavirus expert Fauci: Mitigation efforts working

There are signs emerging that mitigation efforts in the US, including social distancing, are having the desired effect and helping to stem the spread of the new coronavirus, top public health official Anthony Fauci said on Wednesday.

“We are starting to see some glimmers of hope,” Fauci said in an interview on Fox News. He warned that the death toll will continue to rise, as this figure lags behind the rate of contagion.

Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, warned that it is still too soon to lift restrictions, amid increasing signs of strains on the US economy, including skyrocketing unemployment.

“We need to keep pushing on the mitigation strategy, as there is no doubt that it is having a positive impact,” he said. “Now is not the time to pull back, at all, it’s the time to intensify.”

Fauci noted that New York, the current epicentre of the pandemic in the US, was beginning to see an easing of the hardest cases.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo later echoed his comments, saying the curve of the coronavirus outbreak is “flattening” in the state, with the rate of hospitalizations decreasing.

“What we have done and what we are doing is making a difference,” Cuomo told a daily news conference, referring to social distancing measures.

“It’s working, it is flattening the curve,” he said, while stressing that New Yorkers must “remain diligent.”

But, Cuomo said, the “terrible” news was that the state recorded 779 more deaths, the second straight day it broke its one-day record death toll since the start of the outbreak.

That takes the coronavirus death toll in New York to nearly 6,300, which the governor noted far eclipses that of the 9/11 attacks, when some 2,800 people lost their lives.

Vice President Mike Pence also said the mitigation efforts may be having a positive impact, but he cautioned that Philadelphia, in the north-eastern state of Pennsylvania bordering New York, is emerging as a possible hotspot.

Michigan’s Detroit and Louisiana’s New Orleans are also experiencing expanding outbreaks.

The US has over 429,000 confirmed cases of the virus and over 14,690 deaths, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.

Meanwhile, New York City’s iconic Broadway theatres are to remain shuttered until at least June 7, trade association Broadway League said in a news release.

Broadway was initially meant to reopen in mid-April, and its closure comes at the cost of thousands of jobs and millions of dollars.

Read also: Saudi-led coalition announces two-week ceasefire in Yemen

US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told broadcaster CNBC that he expected New York, the country’s financial capital, would “take a little bit longer” to reopen its economy than other parts of the nation.

US President Donald Trump is increasingly pushing to reopen the economy as soon as possible, and officials are looking at potentially easing some guidelines next month in some areas.

Fauci declined to weigh in on Trump’s threat to put a hold on Washington’s funding for the World Health Organization, after the president accused the body of being “China-centric.” (dpa)