Coloradans Warned Of Increase In COVID Cases After Holiday Events

DENVER (CBS4) - The nation's leading infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci is warning Coloradans of a "surge upon a surge."  He described the potential picture in a Facebook live discussion with Gov. Jared Polis.

Fauci said look no further than the number of cases already going up around the country to see what may be in store for Colorado.

"We're having a surge the likes of which we all saw in the late winter early spring which was dominated by the northeastern corridor," Fauci said.

Only this time, numbers are expected to spike in all regions at the same time.

"You usually see about two and a half to three weeks following an event, whatever that event is that precipitates new infections," he explained.

He mentioned events like Halloween, Thanksgiving, and holiday travel will continue to push the numbers up over the coming weeks. The only way to avoid a crisis at medical centers is to reconsider Christmas plans that involve gathering or traveling.

"So we have about a month or more where it is in our hands right now to see if we can mitigate it," Fauci said.

No one likes to hear about shutdowns, but he said, it could come to that.

"I think if you see overrunning of your hospitals and your healthcare systems, I assure you there will be serious considerations for lockdown," Fauci said.

However, that along with hospitalizations can be avoided.

"But what I've been saying now for weeks and weeks if not months, is you don't have to resort to lockdowns if you uniformly do the 4-5 things we talk about all the time."

The things he's talked about is washing hands, wearing face masks, and keeping social distancing at least six feet apart.

Understandably, many want to gather and be with family and friends, but it seems the best advice, according to Fauci, is possibly to delay celebrations until sometime after April. That's when a vaccine may be widely distributed and available to all.