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Dr. Fauci warns parents about children playing together without masks

Dr. Anthony Fauci on Sunday warned that vaccinated parents still need to worry about their children becoming infected while playing with other kids.

“The children can clearly wind up getting infected,” Fauci told CBS anchor Margaret Brennan on “Face the Nation” when asked about the risk of kids playing in groups.

The director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases said that while adults inoculated against COVID-19 don’t always have to wear masks around each other, children — who are not yet eligible for the jab — should wear them around each other.

“When the children go out into the community, you want them to continue to wear masks when they’re interacting with groups or multiple households,” he said.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
Dr. Anthony Fauci says children are still at risk of contracting COVID-19. AP

But when asked whether kids can return to camp or playgrounds this summer, Fauci said it was “conceivable that will be possible.”

Children play after school.
Fauci recommends children continue to wear masks around each other until they can be vaccinated. Helayne Seidman

“We now have 3 to 3.5 million vaccinations each day. If we keep up with that pace, invariably, that’s going to drive the rate and the level of infections per day to a much, much lower level,” Fauci said, adding that lower infection rates will enable the country to have a “good degree of flexibility during the summer … with things like camps.”