Top US infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci said that a post-pandemic return to “normal” could come by the end of the year, aligning his forecast with a Christmas target US President Joe Biden set earlier this week.

Speaking to MSNBC, Fauci said there are many factors — including the emergence of variants of the coronavirus that are more contagious — that will influence when Americans can return to activities that have been stopped by the pandemic.

Americans might be able to get back to below capacity theaters and indoor dining “somewhere between the fall and the end of the year” while something much closer to life before the pandemic would likely be “as the president said, by the end of the year, by Christmas,” Fauci said.

“Maybe you’re going to still have to wear masks,” he noted.