Dr. Anthony Fauci, the infectious disease expert on the White House coronavirus task force, said it could take “months” before life returns to normal — but he didn’t back restrictions on travel within the United States.

“It’s going to be a matter of several weeks to a few months for sure,” Fauci said in response to a question on when life will get “back to normal” on ABC’s “This Week.”

He credited President Trump’s ban on all travel from China and restrictions on travel from continental Europe, in addition to the United Kingdom and Ireland, as a first-step defense to protect Americans.

They “block infections from coming in, and within is when you have containment and mitigation. And that’s the reason why the kinds of things we’re doing that may seem like an overreaction will keep us away from the worst-case scenario,” he said.

But he said he doesn’t see the need “in the immediate future” for the US to implement travel restrictions domestically because of the outbreak.

“I mean, they’ve been discussed, but not seriously discussed,” Fauci said. “I don’t see that right now or in the immediate future. But remember, we are very open-minded about whatever it takes to preserve the health of the American public.”

Still, he said, everyone has a part to play to curb the outbreak. When asked on MSNBC’s “Meet the Press” if he thought a 14-day national shutdown was needed he said: “I think Americans should be prepared that they are going to have to hunker down significantly more than we as a country are doing.

“Everybody has got to get involved in distancing themselves socially. If you are in an area where there is clearer community spread, you have to be much, much more intense about how you do that,” he said in the interview.

On CNN’s “State of the Union,” Fauci also urged travelers returning to the United States from Europe not to rush back all at once.