Thread by @LizSzabo

Can science end the pandemic? Not if we don't socially distance and mask up. @drsanjaygupta tells public health forum, "As good as the science is, no amount of science can rescue us from ourselves." hsph.harvard.edu/coronavirus/co…

Fauci said schools aren't a big source of covid-19 infections. "Given the level of infection we’re seeing in schools, it doesn’t appear that the risk to teachers isn’t any greater than they would just being in the community."

Fauci: "The number and percentage of children getting infected (in school) is less than you would have expected.
That’s really good news for keeping he children in school
In general, it looks like we can keep the children in school and get them back to school safely."

Fauci tells @drsanjaygupta that we know the covid-19 vaccines prevent 95% of us from developing symptoms of disease, but we don't know if they prevent infection. It's possible you won't get sick but could still spread diseaese. Time will tell.

Fauci tells @drsanjaygupta says it's also possible that vaccines will lower the amount of virus in your body so low that you don't spread it to anyone else. We need to do follow-up studies.

Fauci tells @drsanjaygupta if we can vaccinate 75% of population, we could have enough herd immunity that by the end of 2021, we could get back close to normal.

Fauci tells @drsanjaygupta says the plan is to reserve vaccines so that there is enough to vaccinate people fully -- for everyone who gets a first dose to get their second dose, which is necessary to get full benefit.

Fauci tells @drsanjaygupta "I'm willing to talk to anyone in any forum," including anti-mask or conspiracy-spreading sites.

@drsanjaygupta asks if we need to change the public health message to get more people to wear masks. Fauci: "I don't think we're insane for continuing to try to convince people, but I think we need... individuals who are more trusted by the community."

Fauci tells @drsanjaygupta that he will not abandon the scientific basis of the messages he gives just b/c some people aren't listening. But maybe it would help to get trusted community sources to ask people to wear masks.

Fauci: "It's incomprehensible to me but it’s true" that some ppl refuse to wear masks even in places where hospitals are overrun with patients. "I don’t have an easy answer about how to access those people. I’m not so sure we’re going to reach those people."

@drsanjaygupta the number of people dying every day from covid-19 is akin to a Pearl Harbor or 9-11 every day.

Fauci tells @drsanjaygupta "When you get to numbers that are so numbing -- 280,000 deaths and 14-15 million infections" people can ignore it. But Fauci is still treating patients, and "all of a sudden it becomes really real."

Fauci tells @sanjaygupta: When he sees hospital patients on rounds, and he thinks of all that suffering, and multiply it by 2000 cases a day, "that is almost overwhelming." He wishes people could understand this.

Fauci tells @sanjaygupta says his daughter's boyfriend's brother was only 32 but got cardiac complication of myopathy, got cardiac arrhythmia and died. "It really saddened my daughter greatly."

Fauci tells @sanjaygupta "we don't know" why some people die and some survive covid-19, other than that some people have underlying medical conditions. "The mystery that haunts me" is that some people have no symptoms and others die, and he doesn't know why.

You can watch this interview here live. hsph.harvard.edu/coronavirus/co…

LIVE: Fauci says we need to make testing more available to African-American community, since they have a higher risk of exposure at work and comorbidities put them at higher risk of death. 4x greater risk of hospitalization and 2x higher risk of dying.

LIVE: Fauci said we need to "address now the decades-long social determinants of health." "Those are the things that lead to the consequences of covid-19 that are very severe. Those things begin almost at birth."

LIVE: Fauci tells Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance-Bottoms, "where are we going to go in the next few decades" to make sure that we don't see huge racial disparities in infectious disease ever again.

LIVE: Fauci says we should prioritize vaccines for the most vulnerable. "It appears to me that you could make a good case that ppl who are in (group living) situations, whether it's nursing homes or prisons" are more vulnerable than others.

LIVE: Fauci says some states may want to prioritize vaccines in different ways. But that can cause some people to suffer more than if there were a common policy that all states accepted.

LIVE: Actress Octavia Spencer poses a question to Fauci about who to consider a trusted source on vaccines. "The career scientists are totally committed to the health and safety of the American people," he said.

Fauci: "If the United States Food and Drug Administration says a vaccine is safe and effective, I can promise you that I will take that vaccine myself."

LIVE Fauci is taking questions. hsph.harvard.edu/coronavirus/co…

LIVE Fauci. As an individual, he says we have moral responsibility as a rich country to make sure that when we have life-saving drugs for HIV or a vaccine for covid-19, "we do everything we can do to make sure this equitable distribution of those resources throughout the world."

Fauci: Large employers have a unique opportunity to educate employees about benefits of vaccines and to offer vaccination or testing at work.

hsph.harvard.edu/coronavirus/co…

@sanjaygupta asks if protection from a very effective vaccine means it will last longer. Fauci says not necessarily. "We have no idea how long that lasts. It could be very potent for five, six months or a year and then drop off." Need longer-term follow.

Fauci. "I've never seen a virus" that can cause no symptoms in 40-50% of people, but which can hospitalize and kill others. "That really surprised me. I didn't think we would get a virus in which most people do fine" but others die.

End of interview with @sanjaygupt and Dr. Fauci. hsph.harvard.edu/coronavirus/co…