Fauci offers candid advice to city leaders at virtual gathering
For more information, explore the Coronavirus Update series where Harvard specialists in epidemiology, infectious disease, economics, politics, and other disciplines offer insights into what the latest developments in the COVID-19 outbreak may bring. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), emerged from self-imposed quarantine on Thursday to offer candid advice to a virtual gathering of municipal leaders on what to expect as the nation begins to reopen amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the limits of safeguarding children in summer, and the elevated vulnerability of African Americans in cities, likening their risk to that of those in nursing homes. Widely viewed as the nation’s leading infectious disease expert, Fauci told mayors and city leaders in a private session hosted by Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative at Harvard Kennedy School that they should “expect” to see new “blips of infections” as communities begin to reopen, but not to be “discouraged.” Instead,...