Dr. Anthony Fauci.Photo: Susan Walsh/AP/Bloomberg via Getty
The U.S. is making progress towards the end of the “full-blown” COVID-19 pandemic,Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, said Tuesday as cases continue to fall.
With the omicron wave now waning, most of the country is either vaccinated or has contracted COVID-19, and that should provide enough protection forthe pandemic to shift towards an endemicvirus.
“I hope we are looking at a time when we have enough people vaccinated and enough people with protection from previous infection that the COVID restrictions will soon be a thing of the past,” Faucitold theFinancial Times.
Fauci said that he expects the country to be able tolift more restrictions like mask mandatesand distancing “soon.”
“As we get out of the full-blown pandemic phase of COVID-19, which we are certainly heading out of, these decisions will increasingly be made on a local level rather than centrally decided or mandated,” he said. “There will also be more people making their own decisions on how they want to deal with the virus.”
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Currently, theCenters for Disease Control still saythat masking in schools is an essential step in preventing the spread of COVID-19. On Tuesday, the Biden administration reiterated their stance in favor of masks in schools, with White House press secretary Jen Psaki saying they support the CDC’s position, though that it will be “continuously” reassessed based on “science and data.”
Fauci said, though, that he does not believe “we are going to eradicate this virus,” and that COVID-19 will continue to be a part of Americans' lives. Instead, he said, the country will reach an “equilibrium” and figure out how to manage the virus.
source: people.com
