“The virus that we’re dealing with is a different virus than we were dealing with several months ago,” Dr. Anthony Fauci told us.
Just when we thought there was an end in sight, an alarming uptick in coronavirus cases has fueled the Delta variant. In fact, this highly contagious variant now accounts for around 93 percent of cases in the U.S. alone, and the world is on track to hit more than 200 million infections next week.
Katie caught up with Dr. Anthony Fauci for a brand-new video interview, where he gave his thoughts on what the U.S. is up against. “The virus that we’re dealing with is a different virus than what we were dealing with several months ago,” he said. “And we just have to deal with the reality of that. It’s a more formidable virus — it translates much more efficiently.”
To help us make sense of what’s next, Katie asked Dr. Fauci about whether we’ll reach herd immunity, if he thinks more lockdowns will be necessary this fall and winter, and the threat of even more contagious variants emerging.
Watch the full interview here:
Want some of the most important takeaways from Katie’s talk with Dr. Fauci? Here’s what to know:
Is herd immunity still possible in the U.S.? Here are Dr. Fauci’s thoughts:
“Yes it is, but it won’t happen unless we get a vast majority of the 93 million people who are still unvaccinated, who are eligible to be vaccinated, to be vaccinated. Unless they get vaccinated, they are not going to contribute to the concept of herd immunity. Herd immunity means you have enough vaccinated people, plus people who were infected and protected, that the virus doesn’t have any place to go. They aren’t any vulnerable targets. We’re not there yet. We don’t know what the percentage is: Is that going to be 90 percent of the people who are still unvaccinated, or is that going to be 85 or 80? We don’t know and when you don’t know, you know what you do? You just get as many people vaccinated as you possibly can.”
What does Dr. Fauci think about Coronavirus variants, including the new “Delta Plus”?
“I am worried about a variant that we haven’t even seen yet. Because the current Delta variant is so efficient in its ability to crowd out the other variants, that even though there are the variants you mentioned — and there is no reason to believe that they’re going to be worse than the Delta variant — they are not overtaking the Delta variant. So the one good thing is that the vaccines work quite well against the Delta variant.
“In some respects, it’s good that the Delta variant is not being outstripped by the others, because we know we can deal with the Delta variant really quite well. My concern is that if we allow there to be a smoldering infection into the fall and into the winter — because those 93 million people are not getting vaccinated for the most part — my concern would be that you may allow a variant that we haven’t even recognized yet to come along. And in fact, be better at transmitting and more serious than the Delta. We haven’t seen that yet. So rather than worrying about these others that are around, let’s make sure we don’t let new ones come in.”
Dr. Fauci on how to best track breakthrough cases among the general population:
“You really want to do what the Israelis and the Brits have done: Rather than do it generally in the population, when you get someone who is infected and asymptomatic, you test all of their contacts, not just the contacts of the sick people. And the CDC is going to be starting to do that. In fact, they already are.”
Dr. Fauci on whether lockdowns will return in the fall and winter:
“I don’t foresee lockdowns, because there is a substantial enough proportion of the population that’s fully vaccinated — 60 percent. There are 70 percent of adults who have at least a single dose — that was accomplished just a couple of days ago. And we have more than 80 percent of the elderly population that are vaccinated.
“Under those circumstances, you’re still going to have a lot of spread if we don’t get those 93 million people vaccinated who are eligible to be vaccinated. But you won’t have such a situation that would trigger a lockdown. I would be very surprised if that happens. What you will have is spread of infection predominantly among the unvaccinated, and you will see hospitalizations predominantly among the unvaccinated as we go through the fall and into the winter if we don’t very aggressively get people vaccinated.”
