'This is serious business': Dr. Anthony Fauci answered questions from Steph Curry on Instagram

Stephen Curry, left, will hold an Instagram Q&A session with Dr. Anthony Fauci Stephen Curry, left, will hold an Instagram Q&A session with Dr. Anthony Fauci Photo: Getty Images Photo: Getty Images Image 1 of / 49 Caption Close 'This is serious business': Dr. Anthony Fauci answered questions from Steph Curry on Instagram 1 / 49 Back to Gallery

After a brief delay due to technical difficulties, Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry and National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director Anthony Fauci spoke on a live stream for roughly 30 minutes on Thursday.

Curry and Fauci covered a range of common questions about the novel coronavirus during their Instagram Live conversation. In the comment section, a number of celebrities popped in to make their presence known, including President Barack Obama (who posted a waving emoji) and the rapper Common (who wrote, inscrutably, "Common Cold.") A small plastic basketball hoop was visible in Dr. Fauci's office throughout the conversation.

Dr Fauci to Steph Curry on the differences between coronavirus and the common flu. Fauci says COVID-19 is 10x more serious than influenza. pic.twitter.com/lEmy7Rxa1a — Logan Murdock (@loganmmurdock) March 26, 2020

Early on, Fauci addressed the misconception that young people are immune to any serious consequences of the disease.

"What we are starting to see is that there are some people who are younger — people your age, young, healthy, vigorous, who don't have any underlying conditions — who are seriously ill," Fauci told Curry. "It’s still a very, very small minority, but it doesn't mean that young people like yourself should say I'm completely exempt from any risk of getting seriously ill."

Curry covered significant ground during the course of the half-hour, including when large gatherings such as a sporting event could be expected to occur again ("You need to see the trajectory of the curve start to come down"), how the rollout of COVID-19 tests was progressing ("We're going in the right direction"), and whether we have enough N95 masks ("We certainly need more.")

And to the question of whether Dr. Fauci felt that the response of state and federal government to the spread of the coronavirus was an "overreaction," he was unequivocal.

Recommended Video:

"This is serious business," Dr. Fauci said. "We’re not overreacting."

MORE CORONAVIRUS COVERAGE:

Sign up for 'The Daily' newsletter for the latest on coronavirus here.

Michael Rosen is an SFGATE digital editor. Email: michael.rosen@sfgate.com.