Dr. Anthony Fauci complained Wednesday in an interview with the Washington Post that America’s tradition of individualism and freedom is making the coronavirus pandemic worse.
The Washington Post asked Fauci whether the spike in cases is the fault of America’s individualist tradition or President Donald Trump’s refusal to demand national mandates.
Fauci replied that the “independent spirit in the United States of people not wanting to comply with public health measures has certainly hurt us a bit.”
Fauci also complained about people who continue to treat the virus like a “hoax.”
“There are people in various parts of the country who still believe that [coronavirus] is a hoax, that it’s fake — even when in their own state the hospitals have been overrun with patients in the hospital beds and in the intensive care unit,” Fauci said.
Fauci pleaded for Americans not to gather for Christmas this year, noting that he and his wife are not hosting anyone during the pandemic, not even their adult children.
“They are not going to come home … That’s painful. We don’t like that,” he said. “But that’s just one of the things you’re going to have to accept as we go through this unprecedented challenging time.”
He recommended that people struggling with family members talk about the importance of future Christmases, rather than spending Christmas together in 2020.
“You try to explain: you’re going to have many more Christmases ahead of you. You’ve enjoyed many more Christmases before. Maybe this is a time to just say, ‘This is an unusual situation, it’s not going to last forever,'” he said.
Fauci said it is “highly likely” the country “will be back to normal by next Christmas.”
“So make the choice and keep yourself and your family healthy so that you’ll have many more Christmases ahead of you,” he said. “That’s the way I would try to reason with them.”
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