Dr. Fauci tries to reach young people with Trevor Noah 'Daily Show' coronavirus interview
"The Daily Show with Trevor Noah" has landed late-night TV's first interview with Dr. Anthony Fauci, the face of the White House's scientific and medical response to the coronavirus outbreak.
The interview, scheduled for Thursday's episode of the Comedy Central talk show (11 EDT/PDT), provides a valuable opportunity for Fauci to share his public-health message with viewers much younger than those tuning in to the cable and Sunday news shows where he is a frequent guest.
In a brief advance clip, Noah and Fauci, speaking from separate locations, address the need for young people to avoid catching and spreading coronavirus, even though they generally have a milder response to resulting COVID-19 illness than older people do.
In the clip, Noah asked Fauci to address the mistaken belief that young people are immune to coronavirus.
"Even though you are young, you are not absolutely invulnerable," Fauci said, mentioning cases of people in their 30s and 40s getting sick even though they didn't have underlying illnesses.
Tracking late-night laughter: Late-night comedy: Here's when Jimmy Kimmel, Stephen Colbert, John Oliver will be back
Perhaps more important, a younger person might pick up the virus and not get too sick but still pass it on to a vulnerable person.
"So, you have a responsibility, not only to protect yourself but you almost have a societal, moral responsibility to protect other people," said Fauci, speaking from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, where he is the director.
"The Daily Show," or "The Daily Social Distancing Show" as Noah and Comedy Central are calling it now, might be just the right conduit for Fauci's youth-oriented message. According to Comedy Central, it's the No. 1 late-night talk show with viewers 18 to 34 and ranks as the most socially engaged show in late night.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trevor Noah of 'Daily Show' spoke to Anthony Fauci about coronavirus
