Fauci: Surge upon surge of virus cases likely

NEW YORK ( AP) – The United States’ top infectious disease expert on Sunday said the country may see a “surge upon a surge” of coronavirus cases in the weeks after Thanksgiving, and he does not expect current recommendations around social distancing to be relaxed before Christmas.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told ABC’s “This Week” that the level of infection in the US would not “all of a sudden turn around.”

“So clearly, in the next few weeks, we’re going to have the same sort of thing. And perhaps even two or three weeks down the line ... we may see a surge upon a surge,” Fauci said.

The expert addressed the school issue, saying the spread “among children and from children is not really very big at all, not like one would have suspected. So let’s try to get the kids back, but let’s try to mitigate the things that maintain and just push the kind of community spread that we’re trying to avoid.”

Fauci also appeared on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” where he made similar remarks, adding that it is “not too late” for people traveling home after Thanksgiving to help curb the virus by wearing masks, staying distant from others and avoiding large groups of people.

The number of new COVID-19 cases reported in the US topped 200,000 for the first time on Friday, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

Since January, when the first infections were reported in the US, the nation’s total number of cases has surpassed 13 million.

More than 265,000 people have died from the disease.

Fauci said the arrival of vaccines offers a “light at the end of the tunnel.”

This coming week, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices will meet with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to discuss a rollout of the vaccine, he added.