Fauci says those vaccinated “might consider” wearing masks indoors

White House Chief Medical Advisor Dr Anthony Fauci said fully vaccinated people might consider wearing masks indoors as a precaution against the delta variant which is spreading rapidly in the United States.

“If you want to go the extra mile on safety even though you are vaccinated when you are indoors, especially in crowded places, you may want to consider wearing a mask,” Fauci said in an interview. Wednesday at CNBC.

Some areas of the United States are reimplementing mask mandates due to spikes in cases. The most transmissible delta variant now accounts for about 83% of sequenced Covid-19 cases in the country, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“It is suggested that you wear a mask when you are indoors in a situation where you have a high level of virus dynamics in the community,” Fauci said.

Fauci also said U.S. officials fear they will see more breakthrough infections in fully vaccinated people in the United States, even though they are milder cases.

“This is something that we obviously don’t want to see,” he said, noting that the delta variant was highly transmissible. “This virus is clearly different from viruses and variants that we have had experience with before. It has an extraordinary capacity for person-to-person transmission.”

The transmissibility of the variants from the original strain has increased and some have been shown to reduce the effectiveness of vaccines.

“Viruses don’t mutate unless you allow them to replicate and spread in the community, you give them enough time and plenty of opportunities to mutate and you get a new variant,” Fauci said. “The easiest, best and most effective way to prevent the emergence of a new variant and crush the already existing delta variant is to have everyone vaccinated.”

In the United States, 99.5% of deaths from Covid now concern unvaccinated people. “It’s a statistic that speaks for itself,” Fauci said.

Despite the increase in the number of new cases, Fauci says he doesn’t think US officials will renew calls for a nationwide mask warrant “because there will be a lot of hindsight on it.”

Local counties and private companies may choose to apply mask warrants as the delta variant continues to spread into unvaccinated pockets of the country. Currently, nearly two-thirds of counties in the United States have vaccinated less than 40% of their residents.

Colleges and universities have also taken the issue of mandatory vaccinations to court. Indiana University recently got the nod from a federal judge to require vaccines for students attending the fall semester.

Fauci said he doesn’t see blockages making a comeback anytime soon.

“I don’t see that on the horizon right now,” Fauci said. “What I am seeing is an increase in testing and increased local warrants and a big push to get people vaccinated.”