Fauci says states with coronavirus resurgences should consider shutting down again

Dr. Anthony Fauci.
(Image credit: Al Drago - Pool/Getty Images)

States seeing surging COVID-19 cases "should seriously look at shutting down" again, Anthony Fauci, the Trump administration's top coronavirus official, said on a Wall Street Journal podcast Wednesday. "It's not for me to say, because each state is different," Fauci clarified.

That statement puts Fauci at odds with President Trump, who has pledged the U.S. will not shut down again even though coronavirus case counts are skyrocketing to new heights. A record 62,000 new cases were reported in the U.S. on Wednesday, bringing the total case count in the U.S. to 3 million. The national death toll has hit 132,000, per Johns Hopkins University numbers.

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.

Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.

Sign up
Latest Videos FromThe Week

Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.