Fauci ask Americans need to 'hunker down' this fall and winter as pandemic to likely worsen
(CNN)Nearly 30 US states are reporting downward trends in Covid-19 cases, but the pandemic will likely worsen again, according to the country's leading infectious disease expert.
"We need to hunker down and get through this fall and winter because it's not going to be easy," Dr. Anthony Fauci said Thursday.
The warning isn't new. Experts -- including the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director -- have long warned the months ahead will be challenging. It doesn't help that the US continues to see about 36,000 new cases each day -- which is better than where we were in August, but still too high, according to Fauci.
"I keep looking at that curve and I get more depressed and more depressed about the fact that we never really get down to the baseline that I'd like," he said.
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There's a lot that could potentially help drive Covid-19 numbers up as the fall season arrives. Colleges nationwide have become hotspots for the virus weeks after reopening. And when students return back home -- which health officials have urged against -- they could transmit the disease to more communities.
As the weather gets colder, the activities Americans enjoy will likely move indoors, where the virus can spread more easily.
The pandemic will also soon be stacked on top of flu season, meaning doctors will have a harder time differentiating patients who may have Covid-19 from those who have been infected with the flu. The strains on the healthcare system will make for one of the "most difficult times that we experienced in American public health," CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield has said.