Dr. Fauci admits new lockdowns 'not out of the question' under Biden presidency

Dr. Anthony Fauci admitted over the weekend that a national lockdown could become reality under incoming President Joe Biden.

What did Fauci say?

Fauci, the infectious diseases doctor who will serve as the chief medical adviser in Biden's administration, was asked on NBC's "Meet the Press" Sunday whether lockdowns are on the table in response to the latest surge of coronavirus that is plaguing states nationwide.

Show host Chuck Todd asked, "When President-elect Biden becomes president, are we going to need to do another 15 to 30 days, stop the spread, maybe do a partial lockdown?"

Fauci admitted that such extreme measures may be necessary, despite the fact that they cripple small businesses. In fact, Fauci called for more "uniform" restrictions, such as a national mask mandate, claiming uniformity would help slow the spread of COVID-19.

"We certainly need to enhance and make more uniform our public health measures," Fauci said. "President-elect Biden has called for 100 days of everybody wearing a mask uniformly throughout the country. That's really a good start."

Citing California, which Fauci said "is really being stressed with regard to the hospital beds and the personnel who are really getting exhausted with the number of cases that are coming in," Fauci said new lockdowns are not out of the realm of possibility.

"So, that's not out of the question," he said.

Fauci, a member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, went on to say that he hopes officials do not have to implement a nationwide lockdown, but suggested it would be dependent on compliance with public health measures.

"We hope we don't have to do it countrywide, because we feel that if you adhere to the public health measures, you can turn things around short of a uniform lockdown," Fauci said.

Full Dr. Fauci: 'Hopefully We'll Pick Up Some Momentum' On Vaccine Distribution | Meet The Pressyoutu.be

What did WHO say about lockdowns?

Prior to the autumn season, which began the resurgence of COVID-19 cases, a top official at the World Health Organization publicly discouraged lockdowns — with one exception.

Dr. David Nabarro, the WHO's special envoy on COVID-19, said in October, "We in the World Health Organization do not advocate lockdowns as the primary means of control of this virus."

"The only time we believe a lockdown is justified is to buy you time to reorganize, regroup, rebalance your resources, protect your health workers who are exhausted," he added. "But by and large, we'd rather not do it."