--- description: A likely rise in U.S. Covid-19 cases probably won’t amount to a full-scale surge or prompt a renewal of widespread restrictions, one of President Joe Biden’s top advisers said. title: Fauci Says U.S. COVID-19 Infections Likely to Rise Again image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt76d506dcebed73ef/698a3013096a942d956ac5d5/covid.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Fauci Says U.S. COVID-19 Infections Likely to Rise Again by [Ian Fisher / Bloomberg](/author/bloomberg/) ## Ian Fisher / Bloomberg Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Mar 20, 2022 6:08 PM CUT  A women talks with a police officer on Times Square in New York, the United States, March 4, 2022\. New York City will suspend COVID-19 vaccine passport program and remove indoor mask mandate in public schools for K-12 students starting from next Monday, said New York City Mayor Eric Adams at a press briefing on Friday. The decision is based on a sharp drop of new COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations as well as 96 percent of vaccination rate among adults in the city. ( A women talks with a police officer on Times Square in New York, the United States, March 4, 2022\. New York City will suspend COVID-19 vaccine passport program and remove indoor mask mandate in public schools for K-12 students starting from next Monday, said New York City Mayor Eric Adams at a press briefing on Friday. The decision is based on a sharp drop of new COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations as well as 96 percent of vaccination rate among adults in the city. (Michael Appleton—Mayoral Photography Office/Getty Images by [Ian Fisher / Bloomberg](/author/bloomberg/) ## Ian Fisher / Bloomberg Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Mar 20, 2022 6:08 PM CUT A likely rise in U.S. Covid-19 cases probably won’t amount to a full-scale surge or prompt a renewal of widespread restrictions, one of President Joe Biden’s top advisers said. “The bottom line is we likely will see an uptick in cases, as we’ve seen in the European countries, particularly the U.K.,” Anthony Fauci, Biden’s chief medical adviser, said on ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday. “Hopefully we won’t see a surge. I don’t think we will.” The BA.2 subvariant of omicron is driving up cases in Europe and Asia, notably in Hong Kong, and now accounts for about 30% of infections in the U.S, where indoor-mask and vaccine requirements have largely been rolled back. While the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has argued that the U.S. needs to be prepared to resume measures such as requiring masks in indoor public spaces, Fauci said, “right now, at this point, I don’t see that.” U.S. cases, hospitalizations and deaths continue to decline. BA.2 is about 50% more transmissible than the original strain of omicron, but it doesn’t cause more severe illness or evade immunity from vaccinations or an earlier infection, Fauci said. Fauci and U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy urged Congress to pass a stalled package of new Covid-19 relief. The White House has sought [$22.5 billion](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-03-17/fauci-says-u-s-covid-cases-could-soon-rise-as-funding-runs-dry "undefined") in funding, warning that it will soon have to wind down programs and can’t buy more therapeutic treatments. “As much work as we’ve done in the last two years to get the right tools, we’ve got to continue funding them and supporting them so they’re available to people across the country,” Murthy said on “Fox News Sunday.” “That’s why Congress moving to provide that funding is so critical.” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell argued that too much money allocated for Covid-19 programs has yet to be spent. “They ought to reprogram some of this massive amount that was spent last year that’s not out the door yet,” the Kentucky Republican said on CBS’s “Face the Nation” on Sunday. Fauci, 81, tamped down speculation that he might be ready to retire. Last week, he [told](https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/fauci-covid-19-cases-increase-necessarily-hospitalizations/story?id=83509114 "undefined") ABC: “I can’t stay at this job forever.” “I want to make sure we’re really out of this before I really seriously consider doing anything different,” he said Sunday. “We’re still in this. We have a way to go. I think we are clearly going in the right direction. I hope we stay that way.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/6158935/u-s-covid-19-infectiona/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/6158935/u-s-covid-19-infectiona/"},"headline":"Fauci Says U.S. COVID-19 Infections Likely to Rise Again","datePublished":"2022-03-20T18:08:11.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-24T14:01:46.448Z","description":"While Dr. Fauci said there will be an uptick in cases, he said it's unlikely there will be a surge","url":"https://time.com/6158935/u-s-covid-19-infectiona/","keywords":[],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt76d506dcebed73ef/698a3013096a942d956ac5d5/covid.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ian Fisher / Bloomberg"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt76d506dcebed73ef/698a3013096a942d956ac5d5/covid.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"U.S.-NEW YORK-COVID-19-PANDEMIC CONTROL MEASURES","caption":"U.S.-NEW YORK-COVID-19-PANDEMIC CONTROL MEASURES","creditText":"Michael Appleton—Mayoral Photography Office/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/6158935/u-s-covid-19-infectiona/","name":"Fauci Says U.S. COVID-19 Infections Likely to Rise Again"}}]}] ```