Coronavirus: Dr Fauci warns meeting people on dating apps is a 'relative risk'

Infectious disease expert says 'everybody has their own tolerance for risks'

Dr Anthony Fauci has told Americans looking to meet up with potential suitors from dating apps amid the coronavirus pandemic that it's fine, as long as they are "willing to take a risk".

The infectious disease doctor, who is currently working as the nation’s coronavirus expert, discussed meeting up with a stranger during a virtual interview on Snapchat’s Good Luck America, where he explained that the choice to get "intimate" or not despite the risks ultimately resides with each individual.

During the interview, host Peter Hamby asked the 79-year-old: “If you’re swiping on a dating app like Tinder or Bumble or Grindr and you match with someone and you’re like: ‘Maybe it’s fine if this one stranger comes over.’ What do you say to that person?”

In response to the question, Dr Fauci said that dating during the pandemic is a “relative risk”- but that everyone has their "own tolerance for risks".

“You know, that’s tough. Because it’s what’s called 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?” Dr Fauci said, adding: “You know, everybody has their own tolerance for risks. And it depends on the level of the interaction that you want to have.

“If you’re looking for friends, sit in a room and put a mask on and, you know, chat a bit. If you want to go a bit more intimate, then that’s your choice regarding a risk.”

According to Dr Fauci, the decision whether or not to meet up with someone from a dating app becomes even trickier when considering that people who are asymptomatic are also spreading the virus.

Explaining that it would be “much easier” if only people who were sick were contagious, Dr Fauci said: “But what we’re seeing, which becomes really problematic, is that there’s a considerable amount of transmission from an asymptomatic person.”

Tinder has "strongly encouraged that new connections stay digital for now," however.

Earlier in the interview, the White House coronavirus task force expert also cautioned against festivals such as Coachella in the future, explaining that it would make him “really nervous”.

“Well, if there’s virus in the community, it makes me really, really nervous. Really nervous because outbreaks and clusters have been the things that have fuelled outbreaks in different cities throughout the world,” he said.