Dr. Anthony Fauci tells Tucker Carlson he's certain efforts to slow coronavirus spread are having an impact
Coronavirus task force member Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, joins Tucker Carlson on 'Tucker Carlson Tonight.'
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Dr. Anthony Fauci, the most prominent member of President Trump's coronavirus task force, told "Tucker Carlson Tonight" Wednesday that efforts by the public and the government to mitigate the pandemic are having an effect despite the growing number of cases.
"I'm certain it's having an impact," said Fauci, the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
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"It's not able to be measured precisely, because you have two things going on at the same time," Fauci went on. "You have an escalation of the infections, and you have all of the things we've been talking about and doing over the past few days that are aimed at blunting that, but when you have these two dynamic things going on at the same time, you can't quantitatively say how much it's having an effect."
Fauci emphasized there will be an increase in confirmed coronavirus cases Thursday and for several days after that, but that the "escalation phase" of the contagion will be different from locality to locality and not be a "homogeneous evolution."
"There are certainly more people out there, probably many more people, who are infected, who have not yet come to our attention," he said. "That is one of the reasons why the major expansion of high-throughput testing is going to give us a better idea of that."
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Host Tucker Carlson also asked Fauci about reports that coronavirus patients should not take ibuprofen -- often marketed as Advil, among other brands -- because it allegedly "exacerbates" the virus' progression to the lungs.
Fauci said there is no defined data to that effect, adding that experts may be extrapolating Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory (NSAID) drugs and aspirin's effect on children with influenza.
"Since there is a relationship, obviously, between nonsteroidals and aspirin, maybe there will be some harm, but there is no real study that definitively proves that but they are just trying to be very cautious," said Fauci, who added that he has taken Tylenol -- scientifically known as acetaminophen -- for most of his life when dealing with a fever or similar conditions.
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