Dr. Anthony Fauci: U.S. Starting to Be Able to Possibly ‘Flatten Out’ Coronavirus Curve

Appearing Tuesday on CNN’s Newsroom, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, stated that social distancing is seemingly working in the United States, and such measures are “starting to be able to possibly flatten out” the curve of the increasing number of coronavirus cases.

A partial transcript is as follows:

JIM SCIUTTO: I know that New York has seen a decline in the rate of growth in new infections. What else are you seeing that give you some hope that the curve is being flattened somewhat?

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI: What happens is that it occurs in phases. If you look from day to day of the cases of new cases that require hospitalization, when you’re really going up exponentially, it increases from day to day. Once you start to level off, then you’re going to have less people that are going to be going into intensive care. And then later on, because it always lags, you’ll see a decrease in deaths.

What you’re starting to see right now is just the inklings — and I don’t want to put too much stock on it because you don’t want to get overconfident, you just want to keep pushing on what you’re doing —  You’re starting to see that the daily increases are not in that steep incline, they’re starting to be able to possibly flatten out. Again, you look at it carefully and hope it’s going in the right direction, that’s what we really are trying to attain.