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With the number of new infections and hospitalizations plummeting over the past several weeks, Fauci, President Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser, said that the US is almost past the “full-blown” pandemic phase.
If Fauci’s prediction holds true, it could lead to a rollback of virus-related restrictions and mandates sooner than later, including an end to mandatory mask wearing by the end of 2022.
“As we get out of the full-blown pandemic phase of COVID-19,” Fauci said to the Financial 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.”
Despite the promising outlook, Fauci cautioned Americans not to get ahead of themselves, warning that local health departments can also choose to impose certain restrictions if the COVID-19 numbers take a negative turn.
“There is no way we are going to eradicate this virus,” Fauci added. “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.”
More than 900,000 people have died from COVID-19 in the US since the pandemic began in March 2020, though new infections and hospitalizations have fallen rapidly as the calendar turned to February.
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