Golden State Warriors guard Steph Curry recently chatted live with Dr. Anthony Fauci, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director and a member of the White House’s task force for the coronavirus pandemic. Former President Barack Obama, who was one of the more than 50,000 people who listened to the talk online, later joined in on their conversation to give a few words.
Curry wanted to separate fact from fiction and asked Dr. Fauci how the COVID-19 is different from the common flu. “The reason it's different is that it’s very, very much more transmissible than the flu and, more importantly, it’s significantly more serious,” Fauci responded, according to Yahoo News.
Just like everyone else, Curry asked Dr. Fauci when things might return to normal. “What you need to see is the trajectory of the curve start to come down,” the doctor explained. “…We can start thinking about getting back to some degree of normality when the country as a whole has turned that corner and started coming down. Then you can pinpoint cases much more easily instead of getting overwhelmed by cases, which is happening in New York City.”
The NBA star also wondered whether or not a person, who previously recovered from COVID-19, will still get infected the second time. While there is no medical testing done to explore the topic, Fauci said that “if this acts like every virus similar to it that we know, the chances are overwhelming that if you get infected, recover from infection, that you are not going to get infected with the same virus.”
Dr. Fauci also stressed the need for social distancing and other preventive measures. “Everybody, until this is over, should practice some degree of physical distancing and care — no big crowds, wash your hands a lot, be careful,” Fauci said.
Meanwhile, Barack Obama decided to join the two’s Instagram Live conversation by dropping a comment. “Listen to the science,” Obama wrote, according to Newsweek. “Do your part and take care of each other. Thank you, Steph and Dr. Fauci.”
Unlike China and South Korea where the COVID-19 outbreak was successfully contained, coronavirus infections continue to rise in the U.S. In fact, latest data reveal that the U.S. is now the top country with the most cases of COVID-19 infection recently surpassing Italy and China.