Fauci: ‘Possible’ Americans will be wearing masks in 2022 to protect against Covid-19

(CNN) — Dr. Anthony Fauci said Sunday that it’s “possible” Americans will still need to wear masks in 2022 to protect against the coronavirus, even as the US may reach “a significant degree of normality” by the end of this year.

Asked by CNN’s Dana Bash on “State of the Union” whether he thinks Americans will still need to wear masks next year, Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, replied: “You know, I think it is possible that that’s the case and, again, it really depends on what you mean by normality.”

“If normality means exactly the way things were before we had this happen to us, I mean, I can’t predict that. I mean, obviously I think we’re going to have a significant degree of normality beyond the terrible burden that all of us have been through over the last year,” he added.

“As we get into the fall and the winter, by the end of the year, I agree with (President Joe Biden) completely that we will be approaching a degree of normality,” said Fauci, who serves as Biden’s chief medical adviser.