National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases head and chief White House medical adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci said Sunday on CBS’s “Face the Nation” “it is just too soon to tell” if Christmas gatherings will be advised in light of the coronavirus pandemic.
Anchor Margaret Brennan said, “There are two new studies out that show COVID has gotten better at transmitting through aerosols, just through the air. What does that mean? We’re going into cold weather, the holidays. Do people need to start looking around and say it is too risky to gather with family members if there are unvaccinated children?”
Fauci said, “I believe the way the CDC has recommended is when you’re in a situation where you have a dynamics of virus in the community, where there is clearly a lot of spread, even if you are vaccinated, and you are in an indoor setting, a congregate setting, it makes sense to wear a mask and to avoid high-risk settings. We should be looking at ventilation in indoor places. It is clearly spread by aerosol, so you want more ventilation, which is the reason why outdoors is always much safer than indoors. If you are indoors, ventilation will be key. That’s the reason we should be paying attention to that.”
Brennan asked, “But we can gather for Christmas, or it is just too soon to tell?”
Fauci said, “You know, Margaret, it is just too soon to tell. We have to concentrate on continuing to get those numbers down and not try to jump ahead by weeks or months and say what we’re going to do at a particular time. Let’s focus like a laser on continuing to get those cases down. And we can do it by people getting vaccinated. Also, in the situation where boosters are appropriate to get people boosted because we know they can help greatly in diminishing infection and diminishing advanced disease.”
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