Dr. Anthony Fauci said on Sunday that it is “possible” that Americans will still need to wear masks in 2022 to protect themselves against the coronavirus. 

When asked by Globe Live Media’s Ben Oakley if he thinks Americans will still need to wear face masks next year, Fauci, the nation’s leading infectious disease expert, replied, “You know, I think that that may be the case and again it really depends on what you mean by normality. ”

Fauci’s comments come as the death toll from COVID-19 in the United States is approaching 500,000 and the country is approaching a full year in its fight against the virus.

And while the United States is constantly vaccinating to combat the pandemic, the nation’s leading infectious disease expert underscored the importance of mitigation measures to combat the aggressive virus and its emerging variants, as many Americans express pandemic fatigue.

Fauci told Bash that while he cannot predict when the United States might return to operating as it did before the pandemic, he believes that by the end of this year “we will have a significant degree of normalcy beyond the terrible burden that we have all experienced last year.”

“As we move into fall and winter, by the end of the year, I fully agree (with President Joe Biden) that we will approach a degree of normalcy,” said Fauci, who serves as chief medical adviser of Biden.

Wearing masks is critical to slowing the spread of the virus, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which says they can help protect both the people who wear them and those around them from transmission of the virus.

The Biden administration has been pushing the use of masks more aggressively than the Trump administration. President Biden signed an executive order last month that requires interstate travelers to wear a face mask and requires masks in federal buildings.

Biden also challenged Americans to wear masks for the first 100 days of his presidency to reduce the spread of the virus.

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