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Dr. Anthony Fauci, the White House’s chief medical adviser, said Americans should continue to assess their own risk as cases of COVID-19 increase.
“Each person’s decision about the individual risks they’re going to take,” Fauci told “This Week” co-host Jonathan Carl exclusively on Sunday.
“It’s not going to be eradicated and it’s not going to be removed,” Fauci said. “So you’re going to ask a question and answer about yourself, about me as an individual, about you as an individual. What is my age? What is my status? Do I have people at home who are vulnerable that if I bring the virus home, there could be a problem?”
Fauci said that while “there is concern that we are seeing an increase in cases,” “it is not unexpected that you will see an increase when you step back from mitigation methods.”
With 21 states now reporting an increase in COVID cases, Fauci said much of the country is “still in that green zone, which means that masks are not recommended in the sense that they are not required indoors.”
Amid the uptick, the Gridiron Club’s annual dinner, held last Saturday in Washington, was followed by a spike in COVID-19 cases among high-profile attendees.
“Let me ask you about the spike we’ve seen right here in Washington,” Carl said. “We were both at the Gridiron Dinner. This is a dinner attended by about 600 people. So far I think we have 67 people who have tested positive who were at the dinner… What’s the lesson here?”
“I think people who run events, who host big dinners, who host events like the White House Correspondents’ Ball or, in retrospect, the Grill Dinner, will have to make a decision by looking at the CDC guidelines and seeing where the trends they are,” Fauci replied.
President Joe Biden did not attend the event, but has been in contact with numerous prominent lawmakers, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other officials who have recently tested positive or are believed to be close contacts of someone. who did it.
“What’s your level of concern about exposing the president here?” Carl asked.
“Well, John, the protocols to protect the president are pretty strong,” Fauci said. “The president has been vaccinated. It is doubly reinforced. He received his fourth injection of mRNA. When people like me and my colleagues are in the room near him for a significant period of time — half an hour, 20 minutes, 40 minutes, we all need to be tested.”
Biden, 79, received his second booster last month. Fauci urged those eligible to follow the president’s lead and said the “best way to mitigate” living with “some degree of virus in the community” is to get vaccinated.
Meanwhile, Fauci said, “We’re watching it very, very carefully,” adding that “hopefully we won’t see an increased burden.”
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