COVID-19: Universal mask use is key as restrictions may extend into 2022 ─Expert

*Face coverings are associated with fewer COVID-19 cases: Survey

*If you don’t want to shut down, at least do the fundamental, basic things… the flagship of which is wearing a mask, says Dr. Anthony Fauci, leading infectious disease professional

Isola Moses | ConsumerConnect

“We can’t have this very inconsistent wearing, where you see some states that absolutely refuse to wear a mask,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, foremost infectious diseases expert and Director of US National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has said on the need for all to continue to wear this Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to avoid contracting the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

ConsumerConnect learnt Dr. Fauci recently pleaded with Americans to set politics aside and wear a nose mask in order to curb the spread of the damaging virus amid the current spikes in most states across in the United States.

The infectious-diseases doctor and colleagues outlined how face coverings could help to prevent COVID-19 in a commentary in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Fauci Wednesday, October 28, 2020, stated that overcoming politically driven biases around their use is critical for avoiding economically crippling shutdowns again, in the most advanced economy in the world.

In an online interview with Howard Bauchner, Editor-in-Chief of the medical journal, Fauci said:  “We don’t want to shut down completely.

“That’s almost radioactive now when you say that because of the situation of not wanting to hurt the economy.

“Well, if you don’t want to shut down, at least do the fundamental, basic things…the flagship of which is wearing a mask.”

Report also indicates that mandates for the wearing of masks in public have been associated with a drop in Covid-19 cases in the US, and modelling by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation recently found that universal mask use could save an additional 129,574 American lives from Sept. 22 through February 2021.

He disclosed that a temporary lockdown along with a A$200 ($140) fine for not complying with mask-wearing laws in Melbourne helped the city to crush an explosive outbreak of the Coronavirus pandemic.

Fauci stated: “The fact that it was accomplished in a major cosmopolitan city in a country like Australia made me feel that there is hope for us to get this under control.”

Likewise, as Regeneron antibody cocktail shows promise, Fauci has revealed that COVID-19 restrictions may extend into 2022.

Coronavirus (COVID-19) tally compiled by Johns Hopkins University revealed that total global cases were estimated at 44,644,423 with aggregate worldwide deaths put at 1,176,101 as of Wednesday, October 28.

Regeneron reports some much needed good news when it comes to dealing with the coronavirus (COVID-19), according to agency report.

In clinical trials of its antibody treatment, the drug “significantly reduced” the levels of the virus in newly-diagnosed patients.

Report indicates better yet, the company says the treatment reduced the need for hospitalisation in 57 percent of the subjects who took the drug.

For patients in the “high risk” group, it cut hospitalization by 72 percent.

The company says only 50,000 doses have been produced but it could have as many as 300,000 by next spring.

However, Dr. Fauci has disclosed that vaccine would not end prevention measures

Once there’s a COVID-19 vaccine, you may think life can return to normal, but he doesn’t agree.

He rather posited during a recent webinar with a college in Australia that “I think it will be easily by the end of 2021 and perhaps into the next year before we start having some semblance of normality.”

Restrictions will have to stay in place because it will take several months for enough people to get vaccinated, said he.

The infectious diseases expert added that several people may be reluctant to get the vaccine until they see that it is safe and effective.