7:20 p.m. ET, November 23, 2020
Fauci concerned that Thanksgiving travel will amplify coronavirus surge
From CNN’s Shelby Lin Erdman
Millions of Americans are traveling for Thanksgiving this week and Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said Monday that he is worried.
“What most concerns me now is, you know, the immediate situation with people traveling from different places, coming home for Thanksgiving,” Fauci said during an interview with the PBS Newshour.
“When you leave a location and have to go to an airport or wherever it is, a train station, et cetera, the possibility of exposing yourself and then going home to your home community for a wonderful traditional Thanksgiving holiday might actually, unfortunately, be a source of, or even amplification of, the surge,” said Fauci, a member of the White House coronavirus task force.
Fauci said he has other worries, too.
Numbers of cases, hospitalizations and deaths are all growing, Fauci pointed out. “Superimpose upon that that as we get further into the late fall and early winter with the weather being colder, forcing more people throughout most regions of the country to do things indoors more than outdoors — this is something that, you know, at obviously at face value is a very, very challenging situation,” he said.
The infectious disease expert said people who have decided to travel this week “are putting themselves and their families at risk.”
Much of the time, people who are infected with Covid-19 but have no symptoms and are responsible for community spread, Fauci said.
“So what we ask people to do is to at least, stop for a moment and do what I call a risk benefit assessment of what you want to do in the holiday, what you want to do for the season where you bring people in your home,” he said.
If you have elderly people in your home or individuals with underlying health conditions, Fauci suggested, you should really weigh hosting a celebration this year.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last week advised Americans not to travel for Thanksgiving this year because of the surging pandemic.