A leading medical chief has offered important advice to any LGBT+ people considering hooking up on Grindr during the coronavirus pandemic.
Dr Anthony Fauci, who is part of the White House coronavirus taskforce, explained in an interview with Vanity Fair that it’s all about “relative risk”.
“If you really feel that you don’t want to have any part of this virus, will you maintain six feet away, wear a mask, do all the things that we talk about in the guidelines?” Fauci said.
He continued: “If you’re willing to take a risk – and you know, everybody has their own tolerance for risks – you could figure out if you want to meet somebody. And it depends on the level of interaction that you want to have.”
He warned that some people are thought to be spreading coronavirus without showing any symptoms.
Fauci said people who are looking for a friend can “sit in a room and put a mask on” and “chat a bit” – but the situation for hook-ups is obviously a bit more complicated.
“If you want to go a little bit more intimate, well, then that’s your choice regarding a risk,” he said.
People should generally be avoiding hook-ups right now, but if they are insistent on going ahead, Fauci had some essential advice.
“The one thing you don’t want to do is make sure the person is feeling well,” he said.
If you want to go a little bit more intimate, well, then that’s your choice regarding a risk.
Fauci said what makes the coronavirus pandemic “really troublesome” is that people are thought to be passing on the virus without showing any symptoms.
“If everybody transmitted would only transmit when they’re sick, that would be much easier,” he said.
“But what we’re seeing, which becomes really problematic, is that there’s a considerable amount of transmission from an asymptomatic person.”
Large public gatherings make him ‘really nervous’.
Elsewhere in the interview, Fauci said large gatherings make him “really nervous” right now due to the ongoing pandemic.
“One of the real tragic things was that in Wuhan, the city in which this virus emerged, at a time when it was clear that there was viral transmission in the community, the Chinese held a 40,000-person massive block party celebrating some Chinese festival.
“That just exploded it,” he added.
“And New Orleans had the Mardi Gras. Look what happened after the Mardi Gras. So, I mean, the direct answer to your question is that it would make me really nervous if there was virus still circulating.”