Dr. Fauci Says Large Thanksgiving Gatherings Should Be Avoided: ‘Bite The Bullet’
WASHINGTON, DC – SEPTEMBER 23: Anthony Fauci, director of National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at NIH, looks on before testifying at a Senate Health, Education, and Labor and Pensions Committee on Capitol Hill, on September 23, 2020 in Washington, DC. Dr. Fauci addressed the testing of vaccines and if they will be ready by the end of the year or early 2021. (Photo by Graeme Jennings- Pool/Getty Images)
Top infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci said the public should rethink the way they plan to celebrate Thanksgiving this year.
"My Thanksgiving is going to look very different this year," Dr. Fauci told CBS News. "I would love to have it with my children, but my children are in three separate states throughout the country, and in order for them to get here, they would all have to go to an airport, get on a plane, travel with public transportation."
37 states are currently surging with COVID-19 cases, he said. Raising concerns for the fall and winter months coming ahead.
Recent studies have revealed that COVID-19 can live up to 28 days on surfaces like money and smartphones while in cooler temperatures. That compares with 17 days of survival for the flu virus.
"I think given the fluid and dynamic nature of what's going on right now in the spread and the uptick of infections, I think people should be very careful and prudent about social gatherings, particularly when members of the family might be at a risk because of their age or their underlying condition," Fauci said Wednesday. "Namely, you may have to bite the bullet and sacrifice that social gathering unless you're pretty certain that the people that you're dealing with are not infected."
There have been at least 215,000 deaths in the U.S., with more than 7,875,000 cases across the country, The Washington Post reported.
