“We never got things down to baseline where so many countries in Europe and the U.K. and other countries did—they closed down to the tune of about 97 percent lockdown,” Fauci told BBC Radio. “In the United States, even in the most strict lockdown, only about 50 percent of the country was locked down. That allowed the perpetuation of the outbreak that we never did get under very good control.” “We got hit very badly, worse than any country, with regard to the number of cases and the number of deaths,” Fauci continued. “The problem we’re facing now is that, in an attempt to so-called reopen or open the government and get it back to some form of normality, we’re seeing very disturbing spikes in different individual states in the United States.” He specifically pointed to Florida, Arizona, Texas, and California. RELATED: For more up-to-date information, sign up for our daily newsletter. It’s true that a number of states that opened up their economies earliest are now seeing a sharp spike in cases, and as a result, have returned to stricter measures to stop the viral spread. Fauci seemed to indicate that those stricter measures need to be adopted elsewhere if Americans want to curb the coronavirus. “What we have seen over the last several days is a spike in cases that are well beyond the worst spikes that we have seen,” Fauci said. “That is not good news. We’ve got to get that under control, or we risk an even greater outbreak in the United States.” And for more on what risky behaviors to avoid amid the pandemic, check out Most COVID-19 Patients Did This One Thing Before Getting Sick, Study Finds.
