Fauci says not 'going to be able to determine’ if lockdowns were worth it

As President Joe Biden prepares to address the status of America's fight against COVID-19 Wednesday, Dr. Anthony Fauci has said it is difficult to say if the extensive measures, including lockdowns, taken to prevent transmission of the coronavirus were worth it.

“I don’t think we’re ever going to be able to determine what the right balance is,” Fauci said. “I think the restrictions, if you want to use that word, which I tend to shy away from, lockdowns, they certainly prevented a lot of infections, prevented a lot of hospitalizations, and prevented a lot of deaths. There's no doubt about that.”

When speaking with the BBC’s Sophie Raworth on Sunday, the White House chief medical adviser said it is difficult to balance the negative impacts with the positive outcomes.

“Obviously, when you do have that kind of restriction on society, there are unintended negative consequences, particularly in children who are not allowed to go to school, in the psychological and mental health aspects it has on children, in the economic stress that it puts on society in general, on individual families,” Fauci said. “Obviously, those are negative consequences that are unintended. One has to look at the balance of lives saved, hospitalizations avoided.”