Fauci: 'You don't make the timeline, the virus makes the timeline' on relaxing public health measures

Authored by edition.cnn.com and submitted by mclardass
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Washington (CNN) Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert, had a straightforward message Wednesday night about how long the novel coronavirus could affect daily life in the US: "You don't make the timeline, the virus makes the timeline."

"You've got to be realistic," Fauci told CNN's Chris Cuomo on "Prime Time."

"And you've got to understand that you don't make the timeline, the virus makes the timeline. So you've got to respond, in what you see happen. And if you keep seeing this acceleration, it doesn't matter what you say. One week, two weeks, three weeks -- you've got to go with what the situation on the ground is."

His comments appear at odds with President Donald Trump's growing desire to ease the public health guidelines that have shuttered businesses and kept workers at home as the virus has spread. The President has even said he wants the nation "opened up and just raring to go by Easter" -- a date just weeks away that few health experts believe will be sufficient in containing the outbreak.

"You may see in a relatively shorter period of time, when you're seeing the inkling of the flattening and coming down," Fauci said in reference to slowing the speed of the outbreak. "But you know, you can't make an arbitrary decision until you see what you're dealing with. You need the data."

RaynSideways on March 26th, 2020 at 08:34 UTC »

I think we've reached a point where Trump is just bored of dealing with the virus. He doesn't have the attention span to deal with a lengthy crisis like this. He wants to move on to other drama and make himself the center of attention again.

This issue has dragged on and become increasingly complicated and he can't get people to cheer for his half-assed responses to a threat he doesn't (and isn't willing to) understand, so he wants it to just be over with so he can ignore the consequences and move on to something else.

He's a spoiled toddler; he enjoyed his new toy for a time, but now he's already bored of it and he's tossed it aside and he's demanding something else to entertain him.

CoBudemeRobit on March 26th, 2020 at 06:07 UTC »

Imagine being a fucking expert since the 80s and the president is.just.not.hearing.you

MJG2007 on March 26th, 2020 at 03:45 UTC »

You know it's a really messed up world you live in when someone makes a statement of what should be self-evident to any person with a central nervous system and you think "Damn...that's one of the most intelligent things I've heard in days."