U.S. likely to see COVID-19 surge in fall: expert

People walk past a signboard of wearing face masks at the Oculus of the World Trade Center in New York, the United States, March 29, 2022. (Xinhua/Wang Ying)

As well as a pullback on many mask mandates and restrictions for indoor settings, there has been a waning of immunity, warns Anthony Fauci.

NEW YORK, April 8 (Xinhua) -- There will be an uptick in cases of COVID-19 over the next few weeks in the United States and it is likely there could be a surge in the fall, Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has said.

"I think...that over the next couple of weeks, we are going to see an uptick in cases - and hopefully there is enough background immunity so that we don't wind up with a lot of hospitalizations," a CNN report quoted Fauci as saying in a Bloomberg TV interview on Wednesday about the prospect of another wave of COVID-19 from BA.2 or another variant, given the level of immunity believed to exist in the country today.

The top doctor reiterated that the United States often follows other countries, offering the UK, which also has the BA.2 variant, as an example. He said that as well as a pullback on many mask mandates and restrictions for indoor settings, there has been a waning of immunity.

"Those conditions are also present in the United States," he said. "So, I would not be surprised if we see an uptick in cases. Whether that uptick becomes a surge where there are a lot more cases is difficult to predict."

Asked whether it should be expected that this fall will look like the past two and if people should be bracing for something around October, Fauci said that he thinks "it is likely that we will see a surge in the fall."