Fauci: Florida Could Be At Risk After Lifting Restaurant Restrictions

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the government’s top expert on infectious diseases, isn’t a fan of Florida’s recent lifting of nearly all remaining coronavirus restrictions.

According to Forbes, Fauci said that Gov. Ron DeSantis‘ decision to allow bars and restaurants to operate at full capacity is “very concerning” and that the state is “really asking for trouble.”

He said the move could potentially lead to an increase in coronavirus infections, particularly with flu season coming up.

Last Friday (Sept. 25), DeSantis lifted restrictions on bars and restaurants via executive order. As of Monday (Sept. 28), there had been 2,401 cases in the state per day for the past week, which is a decrease of 4 percent from two weeks ago. Overall, the state has seen at least 700,556 cases of the coronavirus and 14,031 deaths since the pandemic began.

Fauci, along with Coronavirus Response Coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx, said it is “something we really need to be concerned about.”

“When you’re dealing with community spread, and you have the kind of congregate setting where people get together, particularly without masks, you’re really asking for trouble,” Fauci said, according to Forbes. “Now’s the time actually to double down a bit.”

Since it hit the U.S. in March, the pandemic has disrupted normal ways of life for Americans. In recent survey results, PYMNTS found that for around 59 percent of respondents, the only way they would be confident to declare the pandemic truly “over” would be if a vaccine was available. Only around 6 percent of people said that lifting government restrictions would make them confident to completely go back to their old ways of life.

PYMNTS also found that consumers generally have a more pessimistic outlook, believing it will be at least another 11 months before things begin to return to normal, up from 145 days at the beginning of the pandemic in March.