Speaking to reporters at the White House Wednesday afternoon, Press Secretary Jen Psaki said President Biden and the administration do not have a timeline for when Americans can return to some kind of normalcy.
"Just one more question on the question of when we get some semblance of normalcy, that timeline seems also to be shifting. Dr. Fauci had said a sense of normalcy might be in the fall, that's when we may be able to go to theaters, go to sporting events with masks of course, now it seems that is being slid to early next year. The President said maybe around Christmas. What's going on here?" a reporter asked.
"Well, this is the question as I'm sure is the case for all of you that every neighbor, every friend, every family member asks, at least me in the street when I'm walking my dog in the morning, we want to be straight with the American public though, it is, we are not in a place to predict exactly when everyone can feel normal again," Psaki said. "There are a number of reasons. One is even though we will have enough doses for everyone on this country, as you all know because we've talked about it in here, vaccine hesitancy remains a challenge. We need to ensure that everybody who can get a dose, is getting a dose. We'll also need to be masking for some time. We'll also need to be taking social distancing measures. So, there is of course an understandable question and I think the President wants things to return to normal as we all do but we don't know at this point what that timeline is going to look like."
.@PressSec Psaki on when Americans can expect a return to normal:
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) February 17, 2021
"We are not in a place where we can predict exactly when everybody will feel normal again" pic.twitter.com/WyYMv42KIv
Meanwhile, Dr. Fauci and Psaki have said Americans should continue wearing masks even if they receive the Wuhan coronavirus vaccine.