Fauci, the nation’s leading infectious-disease expert, said Sunday that people may decide to wear face masks during certain seasons after the coronavirus pandemic has ended to help avoid spreading or contracting respiratory illnesses like the flu.

Fauci added that it is “conceivable” that during seasonal periods where respiratory-borne viruses such as the flu are prevalent, people might decide in the next year or two to wear masks to diminish the possibility of either spreading or catching these diseases.

Common viruses such as influenza have virtually disappeared this year, partly because of coronavirus restrictions like face masks.

Fauci’s remarks come about two weeks after federal health officials said fully vaccinated people can go without masks outdoors when walking, jogging, biking or dining at outdoor restaurants.

CDC says fully vaccinated Americans can go without masks outdoors, except in crowded settings.

As the nation awaits the end of a pandemic that has killed more than 581,000 people in the United States alone, Biden is now hoping that 70 percent of adults will have at least one coronavirus vaccine shot by the Fourth of July to help inch closer to pre-pandemic normalcy.

The United States has administered at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine to 58 percent of the nation’s adult population, according to CDC data.