‘Enjoy it’: Fauci Says It’s Safe for Americans and Their Children to Trick or Treat on Halloween

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This story originally appeared on Business Insider

In a Sunday interview with the CNN anchor Dana Bash, Dr. Anthony Fauci said US COVID-19 cases were headed in the “right direction” and Americans should feel free to enjoy outdoor Halloween festivities like trick-or-treating.

“I think that, particularly if you’re vaccinated, you can get out there,” he said. “You’re outdoors for the most part, at least when my children were out there doing trick-or-treating, and enjoy it. This is a time of the year that children love. It’s a very important part of the year for children.”

The director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases who is chief medical advisor to President Joe Biden urged unvaccinated Americans to add a degree of protection for themselves, their families, and their communities by getting vaccinated before Halloween. He also warned Americans against prematurely declaring victory against the coronavirus, adding that 68 million eligible Americans remained unvaccinated as the holiday season approached.

Related: WHO gives date for the end of the Covid pandemic, but Bill Gates says he has the ‘only solution’ to end the crisis

“On the one hand, we do want to celebrate and look forward to the fact that we are going in the right direction,” he said. “But if you look at the history of the surges and the diminutions in cases over a period of time, they can bounce back.”

On Thursday, the weekly average number of US COVID-19 cases reported each day dipped below 100,000 for the first time since early August, CNBC reported, citing data from Johns Hopkins University.