Dr. Fauci: CT In ‘Good Place’ With Coronavirus, 'Stay Vigilant'

CONNECTICUT — Connecticut "is in a good place" in its battle against the coronavirus, Dr. Anthony Fauci said Monday, but he warned residents to remain vigilant in an effort to keep the situation under control. The state’s positive test rate is hovering around 1 percent, and new infection numbers are low enough where the state can contain outbreaks through testing and contact tracing.

“Connecticut is in a good place,” he said. “The numbers that the governor just showed are really indicative that you are in a situation that, in many respects, have the upper hand.”

Fauci, who is the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, spoke at Gov. Ned Lamont’s news conference Monday and was complimentary of the state’s ability to keep its infection rate low. Lamont said he always listens to Fauci’s advice and that he has been extremely helpful in providing guidance to the state.

“I know him as somebody I listen to whenever I get the opportunity,” Lamont said. “As you know, we have led from the beginning in the state of Connecticut with science — not politics but science.”

Still, Fauci said, it’s important for the people of Connecticut not to let their guard down and to continue to follow the recommendations. The best advice is the same people have heard for months: universal mask use, avoid crowds, maintain at least 6 feet of distance from others as much as possible, do activities outside if possible, wash hands frequently, and don’t go to bars.

For the mask-deniers who say face coverings aren’t effective, Fauci said they are simply wrong. Several studies in the past few months and even before that have shown that mask use can reduce transmission significantly, he said.

“So for those who say don’t wear a mask, there is no benefit — that is untrue and misleading,” he said.

A rally against mask use was held Sunday at the state Capitol. Lamont said he is now looking at the possibility of fines and holding people accountable, especially when people openly flout the state's mask-use executive order.

“We are not going to stand for it,” Lamont said.

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Try to open schools if possible: Fauci

Lamont also released the state’s metric guidance for reopening schools versus hybrid learning or full remote learning. The state recommends that in-person learning take place as long as new cases stay under 10 per 100,000 on a seven-day average. Currently, the state is hovering around two per 100,000.

Secondary indicators are the percentage of positive tests, new COVID-19 hospital admissions and percent of COVID-like illness for hospital emergency visits, Lamont said. The figures will be updated weekly by the state Department of Public Health on a county basis.

Still, it will be up to superintendents to decide whether to conduct in-person or hybrid learning, Lamont said. School districts can request full remote learning for the start of the school year, but they must apply with the state Department of Education for a waiver.

There is always a risk with opening schools, but Connecticut is in a good enough place where in-person learning is possible, Fauci said.

“The default position should be to try as best as you possibly can to open up the schools for in person learning,” he said.

Reopening schools offers a psychological benefit for children and in many cases better nutrition, Fauci said. However, the safety and welfare of children and teachers still has to be the driving factor for decision-making. And, ultimately, parents should decide whether their children go to school.

He also cautioned that residents need to remain flexible if the situation changes in the state.

The National Institutes of Health is conducting a study to try to nail down the incidence of coronavirus infection in the country and how well children transmit the virus when they are infected, Fauci said.

There are still some open questions regarding children’s ability to transmit. A South Korean study found that children under age 10 transmit the virus less than anyone over 10. Another recent study found that children have levels of virus that are 10 times or more than adults in their nasal passages.

There are several ways schools can work to keep infections down including mask use, maintaining social distance as much as possible and ventilation, Fauci said. His daughter is a teacher, so he knows that is easier said than done.

“It is not inevitable that your numbers will go up; it is possible you can use the favorable position you are in now to keep the numbers down,” Fauci said.

The United States overall is having a difficult time containing the virus because its baseline of new cases never came down to a low-enough level, he said.

As for colleges, there are several different methods to help prevent outbreaks. There is always a risk of bringing in people from outside the state, Fauci said. Testing before and at arrival along with a 14-day quarantine period could help.

Quick test results still challenging

The country’s testing system is overloaded due to increases of cases in certain states, which is pushing back the time it takes to get a result, Fauci said. Work is being done to correct that and hopefully, in the coming weeks, test results will flow at a faster rate. Result turnaround times of five to seven days in many respects defeat the purpose of testing and contact tracing.

Connecticut primarily uses local labs for test processing and 85 percent of results come back within two to three days, with many coming sooner than that, Lamont said. The state is working to get the situation even better, he said.

Connecticut’s quick turnaround times will make contact tracing much easier and more effective, Fauci said.

This article originally appeared on the Across Connecticut Patch