Americans should prepare for more hunkering, administration says

The US government’s top infectious disease expert says he would like to see aggressive measures such as a 14-day national shutdown that would require Americans to hunker down even more to help slow spread of the coronavirus.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the public face of the administration’s messaging during a round of morning TV interviews, says the country should do as much as “we possibly could,” even if officials are criticized for “overreacting.”

He says he raised the issue of measures such as a shutdown with the Trump administration, and said it has been open to his ideas.

“I think Americans should be prepared that they are going to have to hunker down significantly more than we as a country are doing,” says Fauci, a member of the White House task force on combating the spread of coronavirus. He heads the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health.

Fauci says the elderly and those with underlying medical conditions should already be hunkering down, but other Americans, too, should consider “much more” restrictions on outside activity, from work and travel to possibly eating at restaurants.

In Ohio, the governor has ordered all bars and restaurants to shut down Sunday night, and Illinois is considering the same after revelers ignored warnings and packed bars for St. Patrick’s Day.

New Jersey’s governor is also considering a curfew, and other states are mulling measures as well.

— AP