Obama thanks Fauci, Stephen Curry during Instagram Live session

Former President Obama commented on a live Instagram Q&A session between NBA star Stephen Curry and Dr. Anthony Fauci, the direct of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, thanking the two for their efforts to raise awareness during the coronavirus pandemic and urging the public to continue social distancing measures.

“Listen to the science. Do your part and take care of each other,” Obama commented Thursday. “Thank you, Steph and Dr. Fauci.”

President Obama weighs in pic.twitter.com/xyahCltK6Y

— Jennifer Epstein (@jeneps) March 26, 2020

The former president has urged Americans to adhere to social distancing protocols to help flatten the virus’s infection curve in the U.S., tweeting a New Yorker article Wednesday about overburdened New York City hospitals amid the pandemic.

“It’s only going to get harder across the country. Another reason to maintain social distancing policies at least until we have comprehensive testing in place. Not just for our sake—for theirs,” Obama tweeted Wednesday.

Fauci, who has served as one of the public faces of the federal response to the pandemic, told the Golden State Warriors star during the Thursday conversation that amid wide-scale shutdowns across the country, the U.S. “can start thinking about getting back to some degree of normality when the country as a whole turns that corner” on reducing infections.

Before the country can return to the status quo, Fauci told Curry, “you need to see the trajectory of the curve start to come down.”

Fauci has sought to temper expectations after President Trump suggested businesses and other public spaces could be able to reopen by Easter. The president also suggested that waiting longer could irreparably damage the economy.

However, Fauci told CNN’s Chris Cuomo Wednesday night, “You’ve got to be realistic, and you’ve got to understand that you don’t make the timeline, the virus makes the timeline.”