Adm. Brett Giroir , the Trump administrations COVID-19 testing czar, implored Americans on Wednesday to follow coronavirus safety guidance over the Thanksgiving holiday warning that the nation is at a critical and very dangerous part of this pandemic.

The Department of Health and Human Services assistant secretary and member of the White House coronavirus task force told MSNBC s Andrea Mitchell that the end of the pandemic is in sight with the imminent arrival of vaccines.

But he noted how new infections, hospitalizations and deaths from the contagion continue to rise, with more than 1,900 deaths from COVID-19 in the previous 24 hours alone.

Look, no ones trying to cancel Thanksgiving, Girior said. What I urge Americans to do is make good choices to protect one another.

If you can defer travel and have Thanksgiving at Valentines Day, do that. If you make the decision to travel and be with your family, be on good behavior before you get together, the Louisiana native continued. Try to physically distance in the home. Wear a mask, dont crowd people 20 people in the kitchen, like we do in Cajunland to cook all day.

We are just starting to see some progress from the mitigation efforts that Americans are doing, Girior added. We need to continue that because were not out of the woods yet. Its still a very dangerous situation.

Check out Giriors full comments above.