Dr. Anthony Fauci has offered a grim prediction for the months ahead in the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. In the days leading up to the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, the country endured a sharp uptick in coronavirus cases. The single-day record for coronavirus cases was set more than three times during the month of November. Given the expected rise in COVID-19 cases due to increased large gatherings, health professionals are worried about what may come next.
"When you have the kind of inflection that we have, it doesn't all of a sudden turn around like that," Fauci said.
“Clearly in the next few weeks, we're gonna have the same sort of thing.”
Despite travel warnings, more than one million citizens passed through Transportation Security Administration checkpoints. That is the highest number of travelers to pass through TSA checkpoints since March. Fauci believes that the increase in cold weather and upcoming holiday season gatherings could very well cause a "surge upon a surge" of new cases.
"We said that these things would happen, as we got into the cold weather and as we began traveling, and they've happened. It's going to happen again,” Fauci said.
On the bright side, Moderna and Pfizer are nearing the release of the first COVID-19 vaccines. However, these vaccines will only be able to high priority groups for the first few months.
"Vaccines are really right on the horizon. We'll be having vaccines available for the higher-priority people towards the middle and end of December and as we get into January and February," Fauci said.
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