It may be time to officially scrap social gatherings planned for Thanksgiving, according to Dr. Anthony Fauci.
Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told CBS News in an interview this week there's a danger that social gatherings for Thanksgiving will lead to a surge in COVID-19 cases, and he warned that Americans "should be very careful and prudent" about participating in any, especially if they have family members who are at high risk for COVID-19 due to their age or underlying conditions.
"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," Fauci said.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Fauci went on to say that gathering with family members who have "very recently" been tested for COVID-19 or who are "living a lifestyle in which they don't have any interaction with anybody except you and your family" would be "relatively safe," but he stressed the risk of having family members travel from out of state to celebrate.
"When you're talking about relatives that are getting on a plane, being exposed in an airport, being exposed in a plane, then walk in the door and say, 'Happy Thanksgiving,' that you have to be careful about," Fauci said.
Fauci also noted that he won't be celebrating Thanksgiving with his children because they live in three different states and decided not to come due to "concern for me and my age."
These comments come after the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned that the spread of coronavirus from small household gatherings is becoming an "increasing threat."
"In the public square, we're seeing a higher degree of vigilance and mitigation steps in many jurisdictions," CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield said. "But what we're seeing as the increasing threat right now is actually acquisition of infection through small household gatherings."
Continue reading for free
We hope you're enjoying The Week's refreshingly open-minded journalism.
Subscribed to The Week? Register your account with the same email as your subscription.