Dr. Anthony Fauci tried to save the lives of Sean Hannity’s audience:
Fauci, who earlier in the day starkly informed the public that “we can’t be doing the kinds of things we were doing a few months ago,” appeared on Hannity to discuss what still needs to be done to mitigate the outbreak.
Hannity, who is sometimes referred to as the White House shadow chief of staff, spent the majority of the interview praising President Donald Trump’s coronavirus response and setting up Fauci to do the same.
After Fauci applauded Trump for banning travel with China early on in the outbreak, calling it the “right move,” Hannity—who has repeatedly downplayed the dangers of the virus—asked the doctor “one more very important question.”
“So the average age mortality for ‘corona’ is 80,” the Fox host said. “So this virus is impacting people with compromised immune systems, underlying other medical conditions are the most vulnerable. What about the other 99 percent? If people got the virus, worst-case scenario, how dangerous is it to them, compared maybe to the regular flu?”
Fauci responded that while 80 percent of those infected would get only mildly sick and quickly recover, roughly 15 percent “will get into trouble,” and the mortality rate in that group is “very high.”
Then he tried to speak to Hannity’s viewers:
“But Sean, to make sure your viewers get an accurate idea about what goes on, you mentioned seasonal flu,” he continued. “The mortality for seasonal flu is 0.1 [percent]. The mortality for this is about two, two-and-a-half percent. It’s probably lower than that, it’s probably closer to one. But even if it’s one, it’s 10 times more lethal than the seasonal flu. You gotta make sure that people understand that!”
Somewhat flustered, Hannity sputtered “no, no, no, no” before eventually asking Fauci if the task force has done everything possible to this point.
He testified before congress this morning:
“Is the worst yet to come, Dr. Fauci?” Rep. Carolyn Maloney, chairwoman of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, asked Fauci on Wednesday.
“Yes, it is,” Fauci replied.
While this coronavirus is being contained in some respects, he testified, the U.S. is seeing more cases emerge through community spread as well as international travel.
“I can say we will see more cases, and things will get worse than they are right now,” Fauci said. “How much worse we’ll get will depend on our ability to do two things: to contain the influx of people who are infected coming from the outside, and the ability to contain and mitigate within our own country.”
He added: “Bottom line, it’s going to get worse.”