“I’m interested in your reluctance to use the word ‘lockdown.’ Two years on, do you think they were worth it, or were they too severe?” host Sophie Raworth asked Fauci.

“You know, I don’t think we’re ever going to be able to determine what the right balance is,” Fauci responded. “I think the restrictions — if you want to use that word, which I tend to shy away from, lockdown — they certainly prevented a lot of infections, prevented a lot of hospitalizations, and prevented a lot of deaths.”

However, Fauci noted that “there are unintended negative consequences, particularly in children who are not allowed to go to school and the psychological and mental-health aspects it has on children, in the economic stress it puts on society in general.” Fauci said “one has to look at the balance of lives saved, hospitalizations avoided.”