[Donger]

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said the country is in a "very critical time right now" as it pulls back from coronavirus mitigation.

"When we do start to see cases come back and I'll guarantee you they will — as we pull back from mitigation, we'll be seeing cases. If we have in place the capability to identify by testing, isolate, contact trace, get people out of circulation who are infected, that's called containment. If we are capable of doing that, effectively, then we should feel some good confidence that we can slowly move on," Fauci said during a Time 100 Talk today.

Fauci said the country is dealing with different stages of the disease, and there is no one-size-fits-all approach.

"We have to realize that we're a large country that has outbreaks in different regions, different states, different cities, that have different dynamics, and different phases in which they are in. And that was the reason why when we put together the guidelines for, as we say the opening America, it was very, very careful and very conservative in making sure that you pass certain gateway points, checkpoints, before you go to the next phase," he said.

Fauci added: "I think sometimes and understandably, people might think that when you get back to normal, it's like a light switch that you turn on or off. It isn't really that at all."