Fauci Says US Headed In 'Wrong Direction' On Coronavirus
Source: AP News
WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — The United States is in an "unnecessary predicament” of soaring COVID-19 cases fueled by unvaccinated Americans and the virulent delta variant, the nation’s top infectious diseases expert said Sunday. "We’re going in the wrong direction,” said Dr. Anthony Fauci, describing himself as "very frustrated.”
He said recommending that the vaccinated wear masks is "under active consideration” by the government’s leading public health officials. Also, booster shots may be suggested for people with suppressed immune systems who have been vaccinated, Fauci said.
Fauci, who also serves President Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser, told CNN’s “State of the Union” that he has taken part in conversations about altering the mask guidelines.
He noted that some local jurisdictions where infection rates are surging, such as Los Angeles County, are already calling on individuals to wear masks in public regardless of vaccination status. Fauci said those local rules are compatible with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommendation that the vaccinated do not need to wear masks in public...
Read more: https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-anthony-fauci-masks-70585010748808ce2284cfc19b608e47
- Top infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci responds to accusations by Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., as he testifies before the Senate Health, Education, Labor, & Pensions Committee, Washington, Tues., July 20, 2021. Cases of COVID-19 have tripled over the past 3 weeks, & hospitalizations & deaths are rising among unvaccinated people.
= new reply since forum marked as read
they are starting to work on some face-saving way to walk back the "throw caution to the wind and get back to 'normal'" advice that was designed to shame anti-vaxxers or hesitants into getting a vaccine.
And when that strategy didn't work, we ended up with people now handed a get-out-of-masking-free card, newly enabled to spread the more contagious version to both the unvaccinated (including those who can't be like children under 12) and to the fully vaccinated, while loon state/local governments correctly point out that "We're just following CDC guidelines". 
of refusals - particularly scary when it is happening with significant percentages of the very medical personnel who are actually caring for COVID patients. 
However I think they are also still thinking in a tunnel-vision manner by claiming COVID-19 is "novel" yet still treating it as if it were some sort of "bad flu", which in turn downplays any asymptomatic or "mild" infections and the potential minor organ damage that could still occur - even if hospitalization were not required.
We know there are "long-haulers" but the question then becomes whether anyone who gets some degree of symptomatic infection would consider whether their "recovery" was really "a recovery", and they are now experiencing a quality of life reduction. Hell I know that after some flus, it may take up to 6 weeks dealing with the initial onset, then the main infection, then finally coming out of it through to the last productive cough and fatigue of a flu.
So with Delta here, it will be instructive to follow those fully vaccinated who did get it, and how long the symptoms last or linger. I know the CDC's V-Safe app does do survey tracking of those who signed up, but I'm not sure how long out they will do it (I actually did get an 3-month (anniversary) post-2nd dose check-in request a few days ago).
I know this has been posted before on DU - https://www.bbc.com/news/health-57431420
and I wouldn't be surprised if Delta is actually closer in R0 to Mumps than is being depicted, especially when you are seeing more and more so-called "break-through" symptomatic infections being reported ("break-through" a term being as oxymoronic as "herd immunity" IMHO).
But I think to be fair, it is hard and time-consuming for public officials to wade through all the data out there, and then come up with some policies and guidelines. But given that the early indications were that the Delta variant has actually been producing symptoms that mimic a coronavirus' more benign cousins ("cold" type sniffing and sneezing), then anyone who ends up with those symptoms will be hesitant to assume they are infected with COVID (as would be expected) until it is too late, particularly if the more indicative symptoms like "loss of taste and smell" kick in.
So in reality, there is most likely an undercount of positives while people "wait out" what they think is a "common cold" or "allergies".
If anything, it was noted a year ago that the incidences of colds and flu were drastically reduced due to the very mitigation strategies deployed to minimize the risk of contracting COVID-19. Remove those mitigations as CDC has effectively done, and now you put yourself into the middle of a guessing game of whether you have "a cold" or "the flu" or "COVID-19".
Thank God these doctors can speak the truth and not be muzzled like before.
