Dr Anthony Fauci has revealed that he and his wife won’t be spending time with their three adult children for Christmas this year and urged other Americans to do the same as coronavirus cases continue to surge in the U.S.
The nation’s alleged top infectious disease expert told The Washington Post it would mark the first Christmas not spent with his three daughters since they were born.
“I’m going to be with my wife – period,” Fauci told the outlet on Monday. “The Christmas holiday is a special holiday for us because Christmas Eve is my birthday,” said Fauci, who is turning 80. “And Christmas Day is Christmas Day. And they are not going to come home … That’s painful. We don’t like that. But that’s just one of the things you’re going to have to accept as we go through this unprecedented challenging time.”
Fauci said the U.S. has “a big problem” with COVID-19 and stressed many Americans missbehaved and ignored health guidelines over Thanksgiving and warned that Christmas cannot be “business as usual.”
“Look at the numbers — the numbers are really quite dramatic,” he explained.
“Stay at home as much as you can, keep your interactions to the extent possible to members of the same household,” Fauci said. “This cannot be business as usual this Christmas because we’re already in a very difficult situation, and we’re going to make it worse, if we don’t do something about it.”
Fauci said the U.S. is being negatively impacted by the “independent spirit” of Americans who are “not wanting to comply with public health measures.”
He urged resilience, qualifying that the pandemic is “an unusual situation” and is “not going to last forever.”
“It is highly likely that with vaccines being distributed, that we will be back to normal by next Christmas,” Fauci said.