BETHESDA, Maryland - White House medical adviser and infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci said he expects another increase in COVID-19 cases in the coming weeks in the United States, with a more serious surge that could arrive in the fall."I would not be surprised if we see an uptick in cases," Fauci said during an exclusive interview with Bloomberg Television on Wednesday.Fauci noted that the increase could come "over the next couple of weeks," potentially fueled by the high transmissibility of BA.2 — a subvariant of the omicron variant.Fauci, who is also the director of the U.S.
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, noted that it is very difficult to accurately predict when the next surge will happen, but said, "it is likely that we will see a surge in the fall" when the weather gets cooler and as immunity from the virus wanes.
Currently, about half of eligible Americans have received booster shots, and there have been nearly 80 million confirmed infections overall.RELATED: Influential model finds 73% of US now immune to omicronOne study from earlier this year used those factors and others to estimate that 73% of Americans were, at the time, immune to omicron.
And according to health experts, this could prevent or shorten new illnesses in protected people and reduce the amount of the virus circulating overall, likely tamping down new waves."When you combine the immunity that many people have following infection, with the immunity that people who have been vaccinated and hopefully boosted have, there’s a significant amount of background immunity," Fauci continued.