Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, spoke with Timothy P. White, chancellor of the California State University system on Friday.
The nation’s top infectious disease expert warned that holiday gatherings could tip California over the edge. He urged residents to keep gatherings small or to cancel plans all together in order to prevent another surge of coronavirus cases.
“If we don’t do that, it is very likely that we’ll get what I call a surge upon a surge. We’re already in a surge of cases. We don’t want to stress the system more, particularly in the state of California, which is just right at that cusp of getting overrun in some areas of the state. Be it beds or trained personnel,” He said.
Dr. Fauci added that California State Universities should be proactive and test students returning to campus after the holidays.
“When they come back, they go into a dorm or they go into the campus and you know they are negative. But then throughout the year to do surveillance testing often enough among a certain proportion of the students to get a real feel for whether or not you’re having that below that radar screen spread,” He said.
California State University Chico will remain predominantly online for the Spring Semester. As of Monday December 21, 83 people in Butte County have died from COVID-19.