No Thanksgiving homecoming for Fauci’s kids to ensure safety from coronavirus

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• Dr. Anthony Fauci won’t be celebrating this year’s Thanksgiving with his children due to concerns about possibly spreading the coronavirus.
• As new cases continue to rise in the U.S., Fauci warned that people should be careful about social gatherings.
• CDC has warned of the risks associated with holiday celebrations especially if people are coming from other places to see the family they don’t live with.

As new cases continue to increase daily in the U.S., White House coronavirus advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci said Wednesday his kids won’t be home for Thanksgiving this year for fear of possibly contracting or spreading the coronavirus.

“My Thanksgiving is going to look very different this year,” Fauci said in a CBS News interview.

“I would love to have it with my children,” he continued. “But my children are in three separate states throughout the country and in order for them to get here, they would all have to go to an airport, get on a plane, and travel with public transportation.”

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director added that in this year’s holiday gatherings, everyone should take into account the health risks of those attending the gathering as well as the precautions and amount of travel people are taking.

“Given the fluid and dynamic nature of what’s going on right now in the spread and the uptick of infections, I think people should be very careful and prudent about social gatherings,” he said as the holiday approaches.

The CDC has warned of the risks of celebrating Thanksgiving this year, saying a small dinner with people in your household is considered the lowest risk of activity while an outdoor gathering of family and friends in the community would be moderately risky. As for large indoor gatherings with people outside your household, these are definitely at higher risk.

Fauci has often expressed concern over the increasing number of cases across the country.

On Tuesday, 52,400 new cases have been reported in the U.S., which is an increase of more than 16 percent compared with data from Johns Hopkins University in the previous week.

CNBC’s analysis shows that average daily cases were up by over 5% in 40 states including the District of Columbia, while the number of people hospitalized with Covid-19 soared by at least 5% in 39 states.  

On Monday, Fauci told CNBC’s Shepard Smith that there are five public health protocols that can reverse the spikes that we see and prevent spikes from recurring as well: global mask use, keeping physical distancing, avoiding crowds, doing things outdoors, and washing hands often would certainly help stop virus spread.

Source: CNBC.com