Fauci warns against ‘dangerous’ COVID surge in US, says OK to ditch masks if fully jabbed

US government’s chief medical adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci on Sunday warned that time was “running short” for the United States to prevent a “dangerous” new surge of COVID-19 as Europe now struggled with the unprecedented caseload of the Delta variant, having turned into the global epicenter, once again. His warnings were propelled as the cases of COVID-19 in the US are rising again for the first time in weeks, and approaching 100,000 per day. Although the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) said in televised remarks that it was “OK” to ditch the masks during the holiday season for the fully vaccinated members to celebrate the festivities.

"That's what I'm going to do with my family," Fauci said on CNN’s "State of the Union.”

But the US’ top infectious diseases expert cautioned the people that if they were traveling or were unaware about the vaccination status of the people around, in those situations one needs to wear a mask. “We still have about 60 million people in this country who are eligible to be vaccinated who have not been, and that results in the dynamic of virus in the community that not only is dangerous and makes people who are unvaccinated vulnerable, but it also spills over into the vaccinated people,” Fauci told CNN. He further cautioned about the wave that might hit in the near future, as he asked the unvaccinated people to get jabbed.  “We have a lot of viruses circulating around. You can’t walk away from the data, and the data show that the cases are starting to go up, which is not unexpected when you get into a winter season," he said. 

"Get vaccinated and you can enjoy the holidays very easily. And if you're not, please be careful," Fauci said in televised remarks. "Get tested if you need to get tested when you're getting together, but that's not a substitute for getting vaccinated. Get yourself vaccinated and you can continue to enjoy interactions with your family and others.”

As per the data released by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly 196 million Americans or, 59% of the total US population is fully vaccinated. As many as 26.6% of the total population or 83 million people haven't received their first dose. The seven-day average of the COVID-19 cases has shot up to 36% compared to last week. Fauci’s relaxation of the mask measure comes just a day after CDC and the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved boosters of Moderna or Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine for all adults who got their second shot six months ago. 

Fauci spotted without a mask 

The United States' top infectious disease expert and National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) director Dr Anthony Fauci was spotted without wearing a face mask at a book party in Washington, DC earlier this week. Sally Quinn, who has known Fauci since he was a young NIH doctor, questioned why President Biden's chief medical adviser wasn't wearing a mask and had his face exposed, to this he replied, "I just decided that if anyone came up that I didn't know, I would put my mask on," Politico quoted Fauci, indicating that it was perhaps now okay to ditch the mask around those who are fully vaccinated.