Dr. Fauci reacted to images of packed college football stadiums filled with mostly maskless fans, saying 'its not smart' as the delta variant continues to drive the current COVID surge.
Following the start of college football season last weekend, images of stadiums across the country-some with the capacity for over 100,000 fans-showed a mostly mask less crowd gathered to cheer on their favorite teams.
While every state has their own vaccination and mask mandate, the Chief Medical Advisor to President Biden condemned the massive gatherings while COVID cases are on the rise due to the highly transmissible delta variant.
Dr. Fauci condemned the massive gatherings while COVID cases are on the rise due to the highly transmissible delta variant 'I don't think it's smart,' he said
Following the start of college football season last weekend, images of stadiums across the country showed a mostly mask less crowd gathered to cheer on their favorite teams
The packed stadiums come as the Indian Delta variant continues to fuel a surge in cases, hospitalizations, and deaths nationwide, particularly in the South
'I don't think it's smart,' Dr. Fauci told CNN's Jim Sciutto on Tuesday of the huge crowds. 'Outdoors is always better than indoors, but even when you have such a congregate setting of people close together – you should be vaccinated.'
'And when you do have congregate settings, particularly indoors, you should be wearing a mask,' he added.
The packed stadiums come as the Indian Delta variant continues to fuel a surge in cases, hospitalizations, and deaths nationwide, particularly in the South, where tens of thousands of rabid college football fans came out to cheer on their heroes this weekend.
Fans in many stadiums - including the Swamp in Gainesville, Florida, home to the Florida Gators - were packed shoulder-to-shoulder with no masks this weekend.
State laws also meant attendees were not required to show proof of vaccination despite Florida currently going through its deadliest wave of COVID-19 since the pandemic began.
Fauci says the kind of behavior being exhibited by college football fans can set back progress made against COVID and will lead to stronger mandates.
'We could be stuck
