Fauci Says Daily New Cases Should Be Below 10,000 Before US Lifts Pandemic Restrictions

Dr. Anthony Fauci said Thursday that the U. S. should not relax restrictions that have been put in place to slow the spread of coronavirus until new infections are under 10,000 per day, a number that is about 85% lower than current case levels.

Fauci said that the case levels may have to be “considerably less” than 10,000 per day for him to support rolling back mask and social distancing mandates in place in many U. S. cities and states.

The U. S. has registered an average of between 60,000 and 70,000 new cases a day over the past week, far lower than the case spike seen in December and January.

The steep decline comes as the U. S. has ramped up distribution of several coronavirus vaccines.

Earlier this week, the governors of Texas and Alabama announced they would end mandates requiring masks in businesses and public areas.

Fauci told CNN’s Jake Tapper that he disagreed with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s decision.

“Well, I wouldn’t want to see a light switch go on and off with regard to restrictions,” said Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

“I would like to see as we get the level of virus in the community to a very low level, well, well below the 60,000 to 70,000 new infections and somewhere.”

“I’ll just pick a number even though there’s not a good model the... (Read more)

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