4 Useful Takeaways From Stephen Curry’s Interview With Dr. Anthony Fauci

On masks, misinformation, and our new normal

Today in our bizarre new reality, NBA star Stephen Curry interviewed Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, about the novel coronavirus live on Instagram, because why not? Here’s a brief summary from their exchange. (Fun fact: Fauci has a mini hoop in his office.)

Stephen Curry: The question on everyone’s mind is when can we go back to normal?
Dr. Anthony Fauci: We need the trajectory of the curve to start to come down. China has started to do this now, but you need to be careful not to reintroduce the virus. In the U.S., especially in places like New York, we’re not there yet. We can think about returning to some degree of normality when the country as a whole has turned a corner and started to come down. Then we can pinpoint individual cases rather than be overwhelmed.

Is the virus seasonal?
Many viruses are seasonal, so it’s not an unreasonable assumption. Viruses prefer cold, dry climates to warm humid ones. But we can’t count on that. We just don’t know for sure yet. So, social distancing is still the best chance to fight the virus.

Later, Fauci says he thinks this virus will be cyclical and is likely to come back in the winter.

We appear to be past the point of it just disappearing. Vaccines — currently…