Anthony Fauci says ‘full-blown pandemic phase’ of COVID is ending

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the White House’s chief medical adviser, said that he believes the “full-blown pandemic phase” of COVID-19 is beginning to end as he predicted a period in which immunity and treatments would together help make the virus more manageable.

With COVID cases and hospitalizations falling in the United States after reaching previously-unseen levels in January, Fauci said in an interview with the Financial Times that he hoped the coming months would bring an end to the remaining public health restrictions, but warned that some measures could return locally if outbreaks of the virus sprouted.

“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,” Fauci said. “There will also be more people making their own decisions on how they want to deal with the virus.”

Since rising to more than 800,000 new cases a day in mid-January, the virus’ spread has fallen off significantly. But still, the rate of new cases remains as high as it climbed a year ago. Prior to this winter, January 2021 represented the deadliest stage of the pandemic.

In Massachusetts, cases are similarly dropping since the omicron variant’s surge during the winter holidays. The state reported 2,800 new cases Wednesday, more than 2,000 fewer than a week prior.

Fauci’s comments were his most optimistic about the future of COVID since the highly-transmissible omicron variant emerged in November, the Financial Times noted. The generally more-cautious public health expert said he would not call the virus “endemic,” but that it would instead reach a stage of “equilibrium” in which government leaders did not have to monitor infection levels as closely.

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

Not every person would need a regular COVID booster to remain healthy, Fauci said.

“It will depend on who you are,” he said. “If you are a normal, healthy 30-year-old person with no underlying conditions, you might need a booster only every four or five years.”