With the coming of Spring just around the corner, many Americans are looking to safely spend sunny days outdoors and reunite with their loved ones, especially those who have been vaccinated against COVID-19.
The U.S. recently achieved a major feat, vaccinating up to 2.92 million people in just one day, a record high according to White House Senior Advisor for COVID Response Andy Slavitt, who took to Twitter to share the news. However, Dr. Anthony Fauci remains cautious about having a more liberal July 4th. The infectious disease expert seemed eager to cancel the Fourth of July using COVID as an excuse to keep people indoors.
President Joe Biden is optimistic that some sort of normalcy can be achieved by July 4th after the record high number of vaccinations the U.S. achieved this week. However, Fauci was cautious about the president's hopes. The infectious disease expert believes that people won't have to cancel July 4th using COVID as an excuse if they cooperate and don't pull back on public safety measures, American Greatness reported.
"If you wait just a bit longer to give the vaccine program the chance to increase the protection in the community, then it makes pulling back much less risky," Fauci said during Fox News Sunday, as per Politico. "But if you do it prematurely there really is a danger of triggering another surge."
Fauci argued that the threat to cancel July 4th using COVID as an excuse relies on whether "plateauing" will occur or not. He explained that a plateauing number of COVID cases is not a victory and on the contrary is a warning sign that the numbers might surge back up, which historically is what happened in the U.S. and is happening in Europe today.
He explained that people got complacent once the number of COVID cases plateaued because people "pulled back on public health measures," citing that communities reopened bars and restaurants, and people started forgetting to wear masks and practice other COVID safety precautions. This is what led to another surge and this is what comprises the threat to cancel July 4th using COVID as an excuse.
"If the surge back up comes, that would endanger the goal of getting people much more toward normal in the beginning of the summer," Fauci explained. "It's not going to influence the vaccination program or the vaccination rate, but it could influence how soon we get back to normal."
Fauci also expressed his disappointment that Texas and Mississippi have lifted their mask mandates and allowed businesses to open at a hundred percent capacity, a move that he called "risky and potentially dangerous."
He insisted that the nation must continue to vaccinate people at the rate that it's going now, with up to 3 million vaccinated per day to achieve immunity against the deadly disease. He also insisted on refraining from prematurely pulling back safety measures in communities across the nation because "We are not out of the woods yet."
