In an interview with Judy Woodruff which aired on the PBS News Hour night, Dr. Anthony Fauci stated the United States was "out of the pandemic phase" where it concerned COVID though he cautioned other parts of the world are still experiencing pandemic conditions:
We are certainly right now in this country out of the pandemic phase. Namely, we don't have 900,000 new infections a day and tens and tens and tens of thousands of hospitalizations and thousands of deaths. We are at a low level right now.
Dr. Fauci attributes this to a combination of two thirds of the country being fully vaccinated (with half being boosted) as well as having so many people infected with Omicron that an estimated 60% of the country has antibodies in their blood which provides some residual protection. Even in areas where cases have spiked it has not been accompanied by a spike in hospitalization.
Of course, the question remains as to how long the protection would last. So there exists the possibility the U.S. could regress to a pandemic situation once more if we rely strictly on natural immunity. Dr. Fauci mused about the possibility of Americans needing an annual shot, but stopped short of drawing that conclusion just yet. Last month, the CDC recommended people 50 and over get an additional booster.
It is fair to say that pandemic or no pandemic, there will be a great many people for whom COVID is not over whether it is by way of losing a loved one or by suffering through long COVID. It is also fair to say that some people acted like there had never been a pandemic.
For better or for worse, life in the United States is getting back to normal.
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