March 15, 2020

Anthony Fauci Was Just Asked About a Potential National Lockdown. His Response? “Whatever It Takes”

Alex Brandon/AP

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Dr. Anthony Fauci, the country’s top infectious disease expert, said this morning on CNN’s State of the Union that—if necessary to actually get people (especially young people, please!) to stop crowding bars and public places—he wouldn’t rule out supporting a national lockdown.

“I would like to see a dramatic diminution of the personal interaction that we see in restaurants and in bars,” he said when asked about a lockdown. “Whatever it takes to do that, that’s what I’d like to see.”

Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, has been something of a public guide—a walking, talking CDC brochure—as the coronavirus has spread. He also went on CBS’s Face The Nation and said that he “personally…wouldn’t go to a restaurant.”

Fauci’s comments are perhaps aimed at the disturbing trend of younger people, who are less likely to be harmed by COVID-19 if infected, treating the pandemic blithely. And it joins a New York Times op-ed from Charlie Warzel—appropriately headlined, “Please, Don’t Go to Brunch Today”—that notes that “many younger Americans seem unfazed by the pandemic.”

Meanwhile, here’s a bar in Nashville, Tennessee, from Saturday night: 

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