Asked by CNN's Brianna Keilar on "State of the Union" if he'd like a "national lockdown" where people are being told they need to stay home and out of restaurants and bars, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, said he'd "like to see a dramatic diminution of the personal interaction that we see" in those places.
"Whatever it takes to do that, that's what I'd like to see," Fauci added.
Fauci, a key member of the Trump administration's coronavirus task force, told Keilar that Americans will need to come to terms with the fact that life will begin to look much different as the country tries to slow the spread of the disease.
"We need to be very serious about -- for a while, life is not going to be the way it used to be in the United States," he said. "We have to just accept that if we want to do what's best for the American public."
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines "social distancing" as "remaining out of places where people meet or gather," and "avoiding local public transportation."
Already, some states and cities have implemented dramatic policies amid the pandemic.
As of Sunday morning, there were 2,885 cases of coronavirus in the US and the disease had resulted in at least 60 deaths, according to figures from state and local health agencies, governments and the CDC.
This story has been updated with additional information from Fauci's Sunday interview.
References
- ^ "social distancing" (www.cnn.com)
- ^ MORE: You asked, we're answering. Here's a guide to your top coronavirus questions. (www.cnn.com)
- ^ implementing a city-wide curfew (www.cnn.com)
- ^ New York Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo said gatherings of 500 or more people (www.cnn.com)
