It is “inexplicable” that some US states are repealing the restrictions, as Covid-19 continues to infect tens of thousands of Americans every day, said Dr. Anthony Fauci Wednesday.
Texas and Mississippi switched this week to end statewide mask mandates.
“It is just inexplicable why you would want to withdraw now,” Fauci told CNN.
“I understand the need to want to return to normalcy, but you’re only going to push yourself back if you just put the public health guidelines aside – especially when we’re dealing with 55,000 to 70,000 infections per day. He added. “That’s a very, very high baseline.”
Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said the government’s guidelines on pandemic precautions are not arbitrary.
“We know these interventions work. It’s very clear,” Fauci said. “When you implement them, you see the cases go up. If you pull back, the cases go up.”