America's top coronavirus doctor says second wave might not happen

The United States’ top coronavirus doctor has insisted a second wave of Covid-19 infections is ‘not inevitable’ if people follow social distancing guidelines. White House immunologist Dr Anthony Fauci said Wednesday that sticking to existing rules and using contact tracing effectively could prevent a second spike of cases.

Dr Fauci, who is also the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases told CNN: ‘We don’t have to accept that (second spike) as an inevitability.

‘And particularly when people start thinking about the fall. I want people to really appreciate that, it could happen but it is not inevitable.’ The infectious diseases expert struck a more optimistic tone than last month, when he told NBC News: ‘It is inevitable coronavirus will return next season.

‘How we handle it will determine our fate.’ Experts fear Covid-19 could roar back this fall and winter as temperatures drop, and fear the virus could overwhelm hospitals already battling the regular winter flu season. Dr Fauci has repeatedly tempered President Trump’s optimistic outbursts about promising treatments or timescales for the virus being contained.

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But During Wednesday’s interview, Dr Fauci said continued isolation efforts, as well as a burgeoning track and trace system to identify and isolate people exposed to the virus could prevent a second outbreak.

He explained: ‘If we do the kinds of things that we’re putting in place now, to have the workforce, the system, and the will to do the kinds of things that are the clear and effective identification, isolation and contact tracing, we can prevent this second wave that we’re talking about, if we do it correctly.’

Dr Fauci spoke as the number of Americans infected with coronavirus passed 1.7million, with just over 100,000 so-far killed. President Trump has repeatedly supported relaxing lockdown measures across states, despite scientists warning doing so could lead to the virus spreading again.

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