Americans may have to do things they don't want to do to avoid another series of lockdowns, the director of the National Institutes of Health said on Monday.
Over the last three weeks, COVID-19 cases have risen more than 300 percent from an average of nearly 20,000 per day to about 80,000 per day.
In appearance on ABC's Good Morning America, Dr Francis Collins was asked what he thinks fall 2021 will look like.
'We want to avoid lockdowns at all costs, but that means we're going to have to do some other things that won't necessarily be welcomed by people,' he said.
He said this may included people wearing masks at parties and children wearing masks in schools regardless of vaccination status.
Dr Francis Collins said on Monday (pictured) that to 'avoid lockdowns at all costs' will require doing 'other things that won't necessarily be welcomed by people'
Examples include fully vaccinated people wearing masks to indoor parties and kids wearing masks in schools regardless of vaccination status. Pictured: A man wears a facemask as he arrives at a subway station in New York, Monday
It comes as the U.S. recorded 25,141 new cases on Sunday with a seven-day average of 79,951, a 312% increase from the 19,400 recorded three weeks ago (above)
After kids headed back to school in September 2020, COVID-19 cases began rising again across the country, reaching an average of more than 100,000 per day in November.
It led to another series of lockdown and stay-at-home orders across the country including office closing, capacity restrictions and restaurants only available to offer outdoor dining.
To prevent this from happening again, Collins said people will need to strictly follow mitigation measures.
Some examples included vaccinated people donning face coverings to attend indoor parties, citing the recent CDC report that found 74 percent of cases in a COVID-19 outbreak in
