White House Chief Medical Advisor Dr Anthony Fauci said that wearing a mask is likely to become seasonal in the coming years during the seasons when respiratory illnesses are more prevalent, reported NBC.
In an interview on NBC's ‘Meet the Press’ program, he said, "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. 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."
The remarks assume significance as not long ago the United States federal health officials stated that fully vaccinated people can go out without masks. The official guidelines on wearing a mask have been a point of political contention in the US since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Meanwhile, the leading American immunologist claimed that there is no doubt that the US undercounted fatal COVID-19 cases. The country has lost about 5,81,000 lives to COVID-19 so far.
In November last year, Dr Fauci had said that masks and social distancing will be necessary even after vaccination.
He had suggested people not to abandon all public health measures after getting vaccinated as one may not surely know how effective the vaccine could be.
