Fauci, WHO Issue 2 Bleak Warnings

Anthony Fauci delivered some not-so-comforting words Tuesday on the state of COVID in the US, telling CNN that the current surge "has just gotten ... out of control in many respects." While December has been record-setting in terms of deaths, Fauci said he feared January will be worse, in part because of heavy holiday travel. "We just have to assume that it's going to get worse," he says. Later on Tuesday, President-elect Biden plans to speak in Delaware on the pandemic, and the Washington Post expects him to lay out in more detail his plans to slow the spread once he takes office. Biden already plans to push for a 100-day period of mask-wearing in the US.

Fauci addressed that idea, too. "What he's saying is that let's take at least 100 days and everybody, every single person put aside this nonsense of making masks be a political statement or not," he told CNN. "We know what works. We know social distancing works. We know avoiding congregant settings works. For goodness' sakes, let's all do it, and you will see that curve will come down." Meanwhile, the World Health Organization had a bleak warning of its own on Monday, per the Guardian. This pandemic "is not necessarily the big one,” said a WHO official, but merely a "wake-up call" for the world to ramp up preparation and improve public health practices. (More COVID-19 stories.)