Dr. Anthony Fauci, President Joe Biden's chief medical advisor, told "Meet the Press" on Sunday that wearing masks could be a seasonal necessity to fend off COVID-19 and other respiratory diseases.
Host Chuck Todd asked Fauci about the possibility of continuing to wear masks even after COVID-19 is no longer the main concern.
"You know, that’s quite possible. I think people have gotten used to the fact that wearing masks, clearly, if you look at the data, diminishes respiratory diseases. We’ve had practically a non-existent flu season this year merely because people were doing the kinds of public health things that were directed predominantly against COVID-19," Fauci said.
"The Australians during their winter, same thing. They had almost no flu largely due to the kinds of things including mask-wearing," he continued. "So it is conceivable that as we go on, a year or two or more from now, that during certain seasonal periods when you have respiratory-borne viruses like the flu, people might actually elect to wear masks to diminish the likelihood that you’ll spread these respiratory-borne diseases."
With regards to COVID, Fauci guessed that by next Mother's Day, in 2022, the United States could return to a degree of normalcy despite the vaccination rates for this year.
"I believe that we will be about as close to back to normal as we can. And there’s some conditions to that," he told George Stephanopoulos. "We’ve got to make sure that we get the overwhelming proportion of the population vaccinated. When that happens, the virus doesn’t really have any place to go. There aren’t a lot of vulnerable people around. And where there are not a lot of vulnerable people around, you’re not going to see a surge. You’re not going to see the kinds of numbers we see now."