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Anthony Fauci on Sunday said more than 99 percent of the people who died from COVID-19 in June were not vaccinated, calling the loss of life “avoidable and preventable.” “If you look at the number of deaths, about 99.2 percent of them are unvaccinated. About 0.8 percent are vaccinated. No vaccine is perfect. But when you talk about the avoidability of hospitalization and death, Chuck, it's really sad and tragic that most all of these are avoidable and preventable,” Fauci told host Chuck Todd on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” (Schnell, 7/5)

Anthony Fauci on Sunday lamented the “avoidable and preventable” deaths among people who are unvaccinated against the coronavirus now that vaccines are widely available in the United States. The nation’s top infectious disease expert was cautious to note that while “no vaccine is perfect,” it is clear that the vast majority of people who are hospitalized with or die from Covid-19 at this point are those who have not been vaccinated. (Niedzwiadek, 7/4)

Dr. Anthony Fauci on Sunday said that Americans traveling to places with a low COVID-19 vaccination rate should "go the extra mile" and wear a mask even if they are fully vaccinated. NBC's "Meet the Press" anchor Chuck Todd said that Mississippi has the lowest vaccination rate in the United States and asked Fauci whether he would wear a mask if he was traveling there, prompting him to say, "I think there would be a good reason to do that." (Cawthorne, 7/5)

The nation's leading infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, said Sunday despite being fully vaccinated, if he were in Mississippi — the country's least-vaccinated state — he'd don a face mask. Along with the Magnolia State's fully vaccinated rate of 31%, falling far behind the nation's average of 47%, Fauci is concerned about the rapidly spreading COVID-19 Delta variant. “I might want to go the extra mile to be cautious enough to be sure that I get the extra added layer of protection, even though the vaccines themselves are highly effective,” Fauci told Chuck Todd during NBC's Meet the Press show. (Haselhorst, 7/5)

Health officials in the St. Louis area are now advising residents, regardless of vaccination status, to mask up while indoors amid rapid spread of the Delta COVID-19 variant. In an advisory posted Thursday, the St. Louis County Department of Public Health and the City of St. Louis Department of Health cited new cases rising among the unvaccinated and children. The advisory called for face coverings in indoor public settings where other people are present, and only removing masks when eating, drinking or "when you know that others around you have been fully vaccinated." (Hein, 7/3)