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  • 2022-04-27 (xsd:date)
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  • Did Fauci Say US Is 'Out of the Pandemic Phase'? (en)
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  • On April 27, 2022 — almost 2.5 years after the start of the COVID-19 outbreak that killed nearly 1 million Americans — numerous media outlets claimed that Dr. Anthony Fauci, the country's top infectious disease expert, had said the country was out of the pandemic phase. The alleged quote led to headlines including Vanity Fair's, Fauci: The United States is 'Out of the Full-blown Explosive Pandemic Phase' and The New York Post's, US out of the 'pandemic phase' of COVID-19, Dr. Anthony Fauci says, and others, such as with The Associated Press, CNN, NBC News, The Hill, The Washington Post and NPR. It was true that Fauci made the remark on the PBS NewsHour show with anchor Judy Woodruff the day prior. However, his comments to journalists afterwards — which we detail below — provided important context to explain what he intended to communicate with the headline-inspiring statement. First, to confirm that Fauci had indeed said the U.S. is out of the pandemic phase verbatim on PBS, we reviewed a transcript, a video, and an audio recording of the roughly seven-minute interview available on the news outlet's website. Speaking to Woodruff through a video screen, Fauci indeed said those words, pointing to the U.S.'s daily average number of new COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths to substantiate the remark. The moment in question happened around the six-minute mark of the interview, unfolding like this: In other words, while Fauci said the in-question statement, he also explained in the PBS interview that we're not going to eradicate this virus completely, but rather public health agencies should work to keep transmission rates very low and intermittently vaccinate people. He said he did not know how often, when, or to whom they would recommend those additional vaccines. Furthermore, in comments to journalists after the PBS appearance, Fauci clarified what he meant: Instead of a full-blown explosive pandemic phase (i.e., the omicron surge), America was in a transition period of COVID-19 becoming an endemic disease, or one that occurs regularly in certain regions according to established patterns, as reported by The Washington Post and The Associated Press. Put another way, in late 2021 and early 2022, the country was in an acute and accelerated phase, seeing case numbers spike nationwide, according to an interview between Fauci and CBS after the PBS segment. However, as of late April 2022, he said the U.S. was seeing a slowdown in the number of new cases daily, or operating in a deceleration phase, and heading toward a controlled status. That latter category includes diseases such as the seasonal flu and common cold. We’re really in a transitional phase, from a deceleration of the numbers into hopefully a more controlled phase and endemicity, Fauci told The Washington Post, emphasizing how the U.S. could still see an increase in infections with this status. We certainly cannot say the pandemic is over, Fauci told CBS. It is not over. (en)
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