Fauci: Vermont a ‘model’ for COVID response
Outdoor fun has continued throughout the summer in Vermont. Here, kayakers enjoy Silver Lake in Barnard. (Gareth Henderson Photo)
The nation's leading infectious disease expert called Vermont a "model for the country" when it comes to handling the coronavirus.
On Tuesday at a state press briefing, Dr. Anthony Fauci, a member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, said Vermonters should stay cautious and keep following precautionary measures that gave the state its good results. He said Vermont has made progress against COVID-19 because of mask-wearing, social distancing, frequent hand-washing and other health practices.
Fauci is the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and has advised six U.S. administrations. He said Vermont's approach to curbing the pandemic is one that any region of the country can successfully use.
"It should be the model of how you get to such a low test positivity that you can actually start opening up the economy in a safe and prudent way," Fauci said, joining the briefing by video.
Vermont has a COVID-19 test positivity rate of 0.2 percent, the lowest in the nation, as well as the fewest COVID-19 cases of any state. School resumed on Sept. 8, and college students have returned to the state. Some have feared a "second wave" of COVID-19 infections late this year. Fauci said visitor traffic and people spending more time indoors are factors, but so are the precautions people take.
"I don't think you inevitably are going to have a second wave," he said. "It's going to be challenging as you get into the fall and the winter, but it doesn't necessarily mean you're going to have a problem, if you do the kind of prudent health measures that you've been doing."
In response to a media question, Fauci said the political divisiveness in the country is a factor. He recalled when dealing with the anthrax attacks after 9/11, that the nation was unified around the action needed. Fauci said this was also the case regarding HIV in the U.S. Though there was stigmatization of the disease for some years, he said there was a universal push to address the issue, which helped lead to progress.
"When you have a situation of a combination of inherent divisiveness in society, a lot of politicization, during a climate such as an election year where it really brings out differences among groups, it makes it much more difficult than in other situations that I have found myself in when we were challenged," Fauci said.
He was confident in the multiple levels of "checkpoints" and safeguards during the vaccine development process, and he also said certain technological advances allowed trials to get started more quickly than in the past. Fauci said he trusted the Food and Drug Administration to follow scientific guidance on the issue.
"They have pledged that they will do what the science tells them to do," Fauci said. "So I can tell you, based on my experience and what I'm seeing, if there's a vaccine, which I'm fairly certain there will be — that's safe and effective — I, for one, would not hesitate to take it, nor would I hesitate to recommend that my entire family do it."
Fauci said he expected a safe vaccine to be completed by November or December, and for doses to be available by January or February.
— Gareth Henderson
