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It's been months since countries around the world stopped counting COVID-19 cases on a daily basis. However the United States has continued to count COVID cases daily, and have been using these metrics to influence policy at a state, regional, local, and business level. Which is now being called into question by medical leaders in the United States.

One of the voices now saying it is time to stop counting daily COVID cases is Dr. Anthony Fauci.

During the pandemic, Fauci has found himself elevated to one of the leading voices for medical response to COVID-19. He advised both President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden. Fauci's official positions are Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and the Chief Medical Advisor to the President.

This past weekend, Fauci joined ABC's This Week, and was asked by host George Stephanopoulos about counting cases, and if it's time to stop doing that across the United States, including Louisiana. Here is the section of the transcript from the show:

STEPHANOPOULOS: That is the huge concern right now, but are we heading to the point where we should be focusing less on the daily case load?

FAUCI: You know, particularly -- the answer is overall, yes, George, and this is particularly relevant if you’re having an infection that is much, much more asymptomatic and minimally symptomatic, particularly in people who are vaccinated and boosted. The real bottom line that you want to be concerned about is, are we getting protected by the vaccines from severe disease leading to hospitalization?

I'm still very concerned about the tens of millions of people who are not vaccinated at all because even though many of them are going to get asymptomatic and mildly symptomatic, a fair number of them are going to get severe disease. But in direct answer to your question, as you get further on and the infections become less severe, it is much more relevant to focus on the hospitalizations as opposed to the total number of cases.

President Trump Meets With Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards At White House
Photo by Doug Mills/The New York Times/Pool/Getty Images
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So with experts, including Dr. Fauci recommending that states like Louisiana move away from counting daily cases of COVID-19, will local leaders follow? If the state of Louisiana wasn't talking about COVID cases every day, we would still notice a rise in hospitalizations, even though COVID-19 deaths have not increased. It would definitely avoid some of the panic we've seen over the last few weeks in the state.

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