Fauci clarifies: US out of ‘acute component of pandemic phase’

The U.S.’s top infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci on Wednesday clarified remarks he made earlier in the week about the pandemic, saying that is not yet over in the U.S., The New York Times reports.

“I want to clarify one thing. I probably should have said the acute component of the pandemic phase. And, I understand how that can lead to some misinterpretation,” Fauci said on NPR, correcting his remarks from Tuesday when he spoke on “PBS News Hour.”

On Tuesday, President Biden’s top medical adviser said that the U.S. was “out of the pandemic phase.” He sought to clarify that Wednesday.

“We are in a different moment of the pandemic,” Fauci clarified, the Times reports. “We’ve now decelerated and transitioned into more of a controlled phase. By no means does that mean the pandemic is over.”

In his appearance on PBS, Fauci had warned that the U.S. was not going to eradicate COVID-19.

“We’re not going to eradicate this virus,” Fauci said while noting that with vaccines the viral level can remain low.

“If we can keep that [viral] level low, and intermittently vaccinate people — and I don’t know how often that would have to be, Judy, that might be every year, that might be longer — in order to keep that level low.”