NATIONWIDE — Temperatures are dropping across the country and families are starting to gather indoors for the holiday season, but the nation’s top expert on infectious disease is expressing concern.
Dr. Anthony Fauci spoke on a livestream with the Journal of the American Medical Association this week to talk about how the coronavirus pandemic continues to affect the country.
“You don’t want to be the Grinch that stole the holidays,” Fauci said on the topic of Thanksgiving and COVID-19.
The doctor said ultimately, each individual and family should take into consideration the risk of gathering people together for the holidays.
“Is it worth for this year to bring those people together when you don’t know the status of everyone in that pod that you’ve created is?” he continued.
The concern stems from not only high-risk people but the fact that COVID-19 is now spreading predominately through small gathering and family members, according to Fauci.
“You get one person’s that asymptomatic and infected and all of sudden four or five people in that gathering are infected. To me, that’s the exact scenario you’re going to see on Thanksgiving,” Fauci said.
Although he emphasized considering the safety of the elderly and people with underlying conditions, Fauci said not everyone needs to completely cancel their holiday plans.