Fauci: US now in ‘controlled phase’ of pandemic
Dr. Anthony Fauci said Wednesday the coronavirus is under better control in the United States but the pandemic isn’t over — and the challenge is how to keep improving the situation.
“We are in a different moment of the pandemic,” said Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, in an interview with Associated Press.
After a brutal winter surge, “we’ve now decelerated and transitioned into more of a controlled phase,” he said. “By no means does that mean the pandemic is over.”
Fauci’s remarks reflect how health authorities are wrestling with the next stage of the pandemic — how to keep COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations manageable and learn to live with a mutating virus.
Fauci said the U.S. appears to be out of what he called the “fulminant phase” of the pandemic: huge variant surges that at their worst sparked hundreds of thousands of infections daily, along with tens of thousands of hospitalizations and thousands of deaths.
COVID-19 cases are at a lower point than they’ve been in months and two-thirds of the U.S. population is vaccinated. Nearly half of those who need a booster dose have gotten the extra shot, and effective treatments are available.
“We are much, much better off than we were a year ago,” he said.
Still, there have been lulls, and while cases are low, they are increasing in many parts of the country.
To keep improving, Fauci ticked off a to-do list: Get more people fully vaccinated; develop better vaccines; figure out the best booster strategy to counter variants; and make sure people can access treatment as soon as they need it.
“We can’t take our foot off the pedal,” Fauci said.