Fauci: US exiting 'full-blown' pandemic phase of coronavirus crisis

[left-of-center2012]

The U.S. is exiting the “full-blown” pandemic phase of the years-long COVID-19 crisis that began in 2020, the Biden administration’s chief medical adviser Anthony Fauci told the Financial Times on Tuesday.

Fauci, who is the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said that new developments that limit COVID-19, including vaccinations, medical treatments and prior infection, will alter the pandemic situation significantly in the coming months.

“As we get out of the full-blown pandemic phase of COVID-19,” Fauci said to the Times. “Which we are certainly heading out of, these decisions will increasingly be made on a local level rather than centrally decided or mandated. There will also be more people making their own decisions on how they want to deal with the virus.”

Fauci said that he hopes all COVID-19 restrictions will be halted in the coming months as well, citing mandatory mask-wearing as one of the restrictions he expects to end. He agreed that restrictions might end in 2022. Nonetheless, Fauci warned that local health departments might bring back certain restrictions if regional outbreaks occur.

“There is no way we are going to eradicate this virus,” said Fauci according to the Times. “But 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.”

[BlueTsunami2018]

1. Would be nice to open up again.

The economy has done pretty well considering the pandemic. If we open up in the spring we can ride a rocket right into the midterms.

[Tomconroy]

2. Yes. I think if Covid ceases to dominate the conversation

Joe Biden's poll numbers will head skyward.

[Farmer-Rick]

3. I think talk of opening up should wait until the death rate drops to equal

Flu deaths.

There were 446,197 U.S. deaths attributed to COVID-19 on death certificates in 2021. Not to mention probably about 1 million people who were permanently damaged by COVID.

In 2018 the US had about 52,000 deaths due to the flu. And that was a bad year.

We have a long way to go before things get safe enough to remove restrictions. But let's not let that bother us. Let's spread some more Covid around and see what other new and improved variants develop.

I wonder if people working with polio thought the same thing as Fauci? "There is no way we are going to eradicate this virus,”

Right now it sounds like saying let's just get use to having polio around. Suck it up people.