CT Coronavirus Christmas Warning 'Misinterpreted': Fauci

CONNECTICUT — Christmas isn't canceled after all.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said remarks he made on CBS' "Face The Nation" Sunday which dimmed hopes for a normal holiday season of family get-togethers were "misinterpreted."

The walk-back came in the form of a CNN interview Monday night after Fauci's Grinch-y remarks were reported widely in the media Monday.

When Fauci was asked for guidance on whether families could gather over the holidays on his Face The Nation appearance, President Joe Biden's chief medical adviser said, "...it's just too soon to tell. We have to concentrate on continuing to get those numbers down and not try to jump ahead by weeks or months and say what we’re going to do at a particular time."

Appearing on CNN the following evening, Fauci clarified his stance:

"The best way to assure that we'll be in good shape as we get into the winter would be to get more and more people vaccinated. That was misinterpreted as my saying we can't spend Christmas with our families, which was absolutely not the case. I will be spending Christmas with my family, I encourage people, particularly the vaccinated people who are protected, to have a good, normal Christmas with your family."

Former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, who has advised Gov. Ned Lamont on public health matters throughout the epidemic, had a pragmatic take on Christmas and COVID-19 when asked about Fauci's remarks on CNBC on Monday:

"Nothing is going to stop us from getting together, and we’re going to be getting together for Thanksgiving and we’re going to be getting together for Christmas," Gottlieb said.

Gottlieb is on the board of Groton-based pharmaceutical company Pfizer, and has predicted U.S. Food & Drug Administration approval for that company's coronavirus vaccine for 5-11 year-olds as early as Halloween.

Fauci's re-tooled recommendations came the same day the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention removed its COVID-19 guidance for the 2021 holiday season from its website. The CDC said on Monday that the page, posted to the agency's site last Friday and also reported widely, was actually guidance from 2020 that was posted in error.

An agency spokesperson told The Hill that Friday's post didn't "reflect the CDC’s guidance ahead of this upcoming holiday season." The new guidance for 2021 is expected shortly.

Out of the 1,686 cases of COVID-19 recorded by the state Department of Public Health in the past seven days, 534, or 31.7 percent, were among residents who had already been completely vaccinated.

With 411 cases confirmed over the weekend, out of 16,331 tests taken, the daily positivity rate reported Tuesday afternoon was 2.52 percent, a climb of 0.72 percent overnight.

Hospitalizations dropped four beds over the weekend. As of Tuesday, there are 237 residents being treated for the virus inside Connecticut hospitals.

Most of those hospitalized (93) are in Hartford County.

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