Dr. Anthony Fauci is looking back on his dire warning that the COVID-19 pandemic was about to get worse exactly one year later — and now, he's able to offer a far more hopeful message.
During a congressional hearing one year ago on March 11, 2020, Fauci warned that "we will see more cases, and things will get worse than they are right now" in the COVID-19 pandemic. That was also the same day that, in two back-to-back surreal pieces of news, the NBA season was suspended and Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson revealed they had contracted the coronavirus. On Good Morning America, Fauci looked back on his March 11 comments a year later, acknowledging that even back then, he couldn't have imagined just how much worse the pandemic would ultimately get.
"I did not realize in my mind even anything close to more than half a million people having died in this country," Fauci said.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Fauci also told Today that learning the current COVID-19 death toll "would have shocked me completely" a year ago, noting, "I knew we were in for trouble ... but I did not in my mind think that much worse was going to be 525,000 deaths."
But with three COVID-19 vaccines rolling out around the United States, Fauci said on Today he sees "light at the end of the tunnel" and that "things look good," though at the same time, he warned that states shouldn't be too quick to lift COVID-19 restrictions, as "we've got to keep putting our foot to the pedal when it comes to public health measures."
Asked when the U.S. might see a return to normalcy, Fauci also predicted that "by the time we get into the mid-to-late summer, early fall, we're going to start seeing a big, big difference." Brendan Morrow
-
5 artfully drawn cartoons about Donald Trump's Epstein doodleCartoons Artists take on a mountainous legacy, creepy art, and more
-
Violent videos of Charlie Kirk’s death are renewing debate over online censorshipTalking Points Social media ‘promises unfiltered access, but without guarantees of truth and without protection from harm’
-
What led to Poland invoking NATO’s Article 4 and where could it lead?TODAY'S BIG QUESTION After a Russian drone blitz, Warsaw’s rare move to invoke the important NATO statute has potentially moved Europe closer to continent-wide warfare
-
Texas declares end to measles outbreakSpeed Read The vaccine-preventable disease is still spreading in neighboring states, Mexico and Canada
-
RFK Jr. shuts down mRNA vaccine funding at agencySpeed Read The decision canceled or modified 22 projects, primarily for work on vaccines and therapeutics for respiratory viruses
-
Measles cases surge to 33-year highSpeed Read The infection was declared eliminated from the US in 2000 but has seen a resurgence amid vaccine hesitancy
-
Kennedy's vaccine panel signals skepticism, changeSpeed Read RFK Jr.'s new vaccine advisory board intends to make changes to the decades-old US immunization system
-
Kennedy ousts entire CDC vaccine advisory panelspeed read Health Secretary RFK Jr. is a longtime anti-vaccine activist who has criticized the panel of experts
-
RFK Jr. scraps Covid shots for pregnant women, kidsSpeed Read The Health Secretary announced a policy change without informing CDC officials
-
New FDA chiefs limit Covid-19 shots to elderly, sickspeed read The FDA set stricter approval standards for booster shots
-
US overdose deaths plunged 27% last yearspeed read Drug overdose still 'remains the leading cause of death for Americans aged 18-44,' said the CDC
