Popular cable news guest Anthony Fauci resurfaced this week after a lull in COVID coverage due to the Russia-Ukraine conflict, and made a true return to form by stating that a reinstatement of mask mandates and a fourth booster shot may be necessary for American citizens.
“If in fact we do see a turnaround and a resurgence, we have to be able to pivot and go back to any degree of mitigation that is commensurate with what the situation is,” Fauci declared on Thursday.
“We can’t just say, ‘We’re done. We’re going to move on,'” the cable news guest continued. “We’ve got to be able to be flexible because we’re dealing with a dynamic situation.”
NEW: Fauci warns it may be "necessary" to "re-institute" restrictions, such as forced masking pic.twitter.com/IeeA0iayGn
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) March 17, 2022
"We can't just say we're done, now we're going to move on. We've got to be able to be flexible because we're dealing with a dynamic situation."
Dr. Anthony Fauci discusses with @jaketapper the BA.2 subvariant in Europe and what it means for the US. pic.twitter.com/VkoF2mJ6hh
— CNN (@CNN) March 17, 2022
“The overall mortality is actually down,” Fauci said, adding, “It’s a very interesting situation where the cases are going up, but it does not, at this point in time, appear to be any degree of severity.”
Fauci continued, “We generally follow what goes on the UK by about two to three weeks. I would not be surprised in the next few weeks, given the fact that we’ve begun to open up, and we have an increase in the BA.2 variant, that we’ll be seeing an increase in cases.”
“I would project that sooner or later, we will need a fourth [shot],” Fauci noted.
During another appearance on a podcast, Fauci discussed potential plans for retirement.
“I have said that I would stay in what I’m doing until we get out of the pandemic phase and I think we might be there already,” Fauci claimed. “If we can stay in this, then we’re at a point where I feel that we are done with this, but I don’t have any plans right now to go away, but you never know.”
The cable news favorite added, “I can’t stay at this job forever, unless my staff find me slumped over at my desk one day. I’d rather not do that.”
