U.S. health officials see "glimmers" that social distancing efforts to slow the spread of the coronavirus are beginning to dampen the outbreak, White House health advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci said Tuesday.
Americans are still "in a very difficult situation," the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases said on CNN. "We hope and I believe it will happen that we may start seeing a turnaround, but we haven't seen it yet. We're just pushing on the mitigation."
"You don't want to get overconfident. You just want to keep pushing," he added.
The rate of new hospitalizations from COVID-19 in places such as New York are beginning to slow and are "possibly" beginning "to flatten out," Fauci said.Â
U.S. cases reached more than 164,000 as of Tuesday morning, with more than 67,000 in New York state, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. U.S. deaths surpassed 3,000, more than the number of people who died in the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. The death toll is expected to rise over the next few weeks as more patients flood hospitals, U.S. officials say.
Fauci said officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and President Donald Trump's coronavirus task force are actively discussing whether they should alter guidance and encourage all Americans to wear masks to prevent infection. The U.S. government does not currently recommend it.
He said U.S. officials are worried the new recommendation will take away the supply of masks for health-care workers, some of whom are already dealing with large shortages.
"When we get in a situation where we have enough masks, I believe there will be some very serious consideration about more broadening" the guidelines for using masks, he said. "We're not there yet."
Fauci also reiterated that the U.S. could see a "second cycle" of the outbreak. But he predicted it wouldn't be as bad, arguing the U.S. will be better prepared and may have therapeutics to treat it by then.
Fauci also said there is "no definitive evidence" that anti-malaria drug chloroquine is effective in treating or preventing COVID-19. The drug, which Trump has touted could be a "game-changer," is being tested in combination with azithromycin as part of a large clinical study of whether it is effective against COVID-19.