Last week, the state of Texas ended its mask mandate and opened up businesses 100%. Texas Governor Greg Abbott did so in defiance of advice from public health officials like Dr. Anthony Fauci, the chief medical advisor to the President and the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, who urged states to wait a few months before easing restrictions. Why? Cases are no longer falling, And they might go back up. If they do, Texas could be responsible. Read on to see exactly what Dr. Fauci said—and to ensure your health and the health of others, don't miss these Sure Signs You've Already Had Coronavirus.

Fauci appeared on Fox News Sunday with host Chris Wallace, who asked: “Given the tenuous situation, where in is what Texas did this past week ending the mask mandate reopening a hundred percent is what Texas did dangerous?”

“I think it's risky and potentially dangerous,” said Dr. Fauci. He said that “for the simple reason of—if you have a baseline of infection that is quite high, and if you look at the numbers, we are not out of the woods yet. When you pull back on all mitigation methods on all public health guidelines, that's when you get into trouble and history has proven that,” he said. “This isn't just some kind of a theoretical, a point that I'm trying to make. It's not theoretical. It actually happens.”

“Take a look at January, February, March, April, in the late winter, early spring of 2020, take a look at the summer of 2020, and now look at where we are right now,” said Fauci to Wallace. “If you look at those numbers, that plateau bothers me and other public health officials. When you plateau at a high level, there's enough of viral activity in the community that when you pull back on things like masking and not pay attention to avoiding congregate settings, it is very risky to get another surge.”

“Even though the decline was steep, we absolutely need to avoid the urge to say, ‘Oh, everything is going great,’ which it is going in the right direction,” said Dr. Fauci. “But once you declare victory, you know, that metaphor that people say, if you're going for a touchdown, don't spike the ball on the five yard line waiting till you get into the end zone. And we're not in the end zone yet. And that's one of the issues, is always the risk of a surge. That's exactly what the Europeans have experienced.”

“If you look at the number of vaccines that are going into people now,” said Dr. Fauci, “I think that goal of anybody 18 years of age or older will be able to get a vaccine by May 1st. I think that's quite reasonable. The amount of vaccines that are going to be available by the end of May. That's something that's right on target with the new contracts that we have made with the pharmaceutical companies to get even more doses.” So, he says, “I think the 4th of July projection is really quite reasonable. I don't see any stumbling blocks in that. The only thing that's you always have to be careful about” is “that plateauing and more states”—like Texas— “essentially pull back all public health measures, we could have a surge back up, and if the surge back up comes, that would endanger the goal of getting people much more towards normal.”

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Follow Fauci’s fundamentals and help end this pandemic, no matter where you live—wear a face mask that fits snugly and is double layered, don’t travel, social distance, avoid large crowds, don't go indoors with people you're not sheltering with (especially in bars), practice good hand hygiene, get vaccinated when it becomes available to you, and to protect your life and the lives of others, don't visit any of these 35 Places You're Most Likely to Catch COVID.