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The top infectious disease expert in the United States, Dr Anthony Fauci, said on Wednesday the coronavirus is under better control in the U.S. but warned the pandemic isn't over.
"We are in a different moment of the pandemic," said Fauci.
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."
His comments came a day after he said on the PBS "NewsHour" that the U.S. was "out of the pandemic phase" and also told The Washington Post that the country was finally "out of the full-blown explosive pandemic phase."
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 what's still a mutating and unpredictable virus.
"We are now transitioning – not there yet, but transitioning – to more of an endemicity, where the level of infection is low enough that people are starting to learn how to live with the virus, still protecting themselves by vaccination, by the availability of antivirals, by testing," Fauci said.
Still, there have been lulls before, and while cases are low, they are increasing in many parts of the country.
"We can't take our foot off the pedal," Fauci said. "There's a lot of viral dynamics throughout the world and we still may get another variant which could lead to another potential surge."
(CGTN)
