“The fact that the world and the United States and particularly certain parts of the United States are just up to here with COVID – they just really need to somehow get their life back,” he said.

“You don’t want to be reckless and throw everything aside, but you’ve got to start inching towards that.”…

Fauci acknowledged that states’ revised policies could involve tradeoffs and some unnecessary infections, but hewing too closely to strict prevention policies was also harmful.

“Is the impact on mental health, is the impact on development of kids, is the impact on schools – is that balanced against trying to be totally pristine and protecting against infection? I don’t have the right answer to that,” he said.