Fauci: ‘Are we out of the pandemic phase in this country? We are’

It’s taken more than two years, but it seems we’re finally there.

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Dr. Anthony Fauci said we are now out of the pandemic phase of the coronavirus.

He said the pandemic isn’t over but that we are now in what he’s calling the transition phase.

Nearly 1 million people in the U.S. have died of COVID-19.

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We appear to be entering a new chapter in the fight against COVID-19.

“So if you’re saying, ‘are we out of the pandemic phase in this country?’ We are,” Fauci said.

Fauci said the U.S. is transitioning into an endemic.

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“If you add up the people who’ve been infected, plus the people who’ve been vaccinated and hopefully boosted, you have a rather substantial proportion of the United States population that has some degree of immunity that’s residual,” Fauci said.

COVID-19 is under better control, but Fauci said the coronavirus won’t be eradicated.

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

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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said 66% of the U.S. population is fully vaccinated and about half of them have also been boosted.

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