Does is still *feel* like we’re in a pandemic? I would imagine parents with young children still feel the pandemic, but here in Virginia, everyone is unmasked and life is completely “back to normal.” The other day, I went into a hair salon and didn’t wear a mask, and none of the hair stylists wore masks either. That being said, you can still choose to wear a mask if you want, and people should still be vigilant, obviously. Even someone like Vice President Kamala Harris tested positive for Covid this week, and she’s obviously very vigilant (she’s also reportedly asymptomatic, thankfully). So what is the state of the pandemic in America right now? Dr. Fauci says the “pandemic phase” is over, actually.
Anthony Fauci, the chief medical adviser to President Joe Biden, says the United States has emerged from its COVID emergency. “We are certainly, right now, in this country, out of the pandemic phase,” Fauci said in a PBS Newshour interview Tuesday. “Namely, we don’t have 900,000 new infections a day and tens and tens of thousands of hospitalizations and thousands of deaths. We are at a low level right now. So if you’re saying, ‘Are we out of the pandemic phase in this country?’ We are.”
The assessment marks a significant shift in how the nation’s top infectious disease official describes the COVID situation in the U.S. As recently as February, he was cautioning against pulling back on mask mandates, even as he said the country was on the cusp of exiting the “full-blown” pandemic phase of COVID and suggested Americans could begin “inching back” to normalcy. Notably, he didn’t declare COVID over on Tuesday, acknowledging that “we’re not going to eradicate this virus” and emphasizing that “there’s no doubt this pandemic is still ongoing” across much of the world. But, he said, a substantial enough portion of the U.S. population “has some degree of immunity that’s residual” due to vaccines, boosters, and prior infections that the country is, at least for now, no longer in a COVID emergency. According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data released this week, 60% of Americans, including 75% of children and adolescents had been infected with Covid-19 by February.
Infections — but not hospitalizations and deaths — are ticking up across parts of the country as a new omicron subvariant continues to spread and public health restrictions are lifted, including the Biden administration’s federal mask mandate for travel, which was struck down by a conservative judge in Florida last week. (The Department of Justice is appealing the ruling, based on the recommendation of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.)
I feel like this is an accurate assessment? It feels like everyone who wanted a vaccine got their vaccine, and people are generally committed to getting their boosters when they become available, and hospitals are no longer being crushed by new variants. Immunologists have actually been surprised by the muted impact of the latest variant, BA.2, and the sub-variant BA.2.12.1 in the US. People are still catching Covid, obviously, but the variants and sub-variants have not ripped through the US like Omicron did months ago. Personally, I can’t wait to get another booster shot though. I got my first booster last November. I hope they open up second-booster shots for under-50 people soon.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Instar.
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- -Washington, District of Columbia – 20211227 United States President Joe Biden participates in the White House Covid-19 response team’s regular call with the National Governors Association to discuss the Biden Administrations response to the Omicron variant. -PICTURED: Anthony Fauci -PHOTO by: CNP/startraksphoto.com -122721_Biden-NGA-CNP_019 This is an editorial, rights-managed image. Please contact Startraks Photo for licensing fee and rights information at sales@startraksphoto.com or call +1 212 414 9464 This image may not be published in any way that is, or might be deemed to be, defamatory, libelous, pornographic, or obscene. Please consult our sales department for any clarification needed prior to publication and use. Startraks Photo reserves the right to pursue unauthorized users of this material. If you are in violation of our intellectual property rights or copyright you may be liable for damages, loss of income, any profits you derive from the unauthorized use of this material and, where appropriate, the cost of collection and/or any statutory damages awarded
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- -Washington, District of Columbia – 20211104 Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions hearing to examine the road ahead for the COVID-19 response, focusing on next steps, in the Dirksen Senate Office Building. -PICTURED: Dr. Anthony Fauci -PHOTO by: Rod Lamkey/CNP/startraksphoto.com -110421_Senate-HELP_006 This is an editorial, rights-managed image. Please contact Startraks Photo for licensing fee and rights information at sales@startraksphoto.com or call +1 212 414 9464 This image may not be published in any way that is, or might be deemed to be, defamatory, libelous, pornographic, or obscene. Please consult our sales department for any clarification needed prior to publication and use. Startraks Photo reserves the right to pursue unauthorized users of this material. If you are in violation of our intellectual property rights or copyright you may be liable for damages, loss of income, any profits you derive from the unauthorized use of this material and, where appropriate, the cost of collection and/or any statutory damages awarded
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- Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, speaks during a news conference in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Thursday, Jan. 21, 2021. Biden in his first full day in office plans to issue a sweeping set of executive orders to tackle the raging Covid-19 pandemic that will rapidly reverse or refashion many of his predecessor’s most heavily criticized policies.,Image: 585217439, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: usage worldwide, Model Release: no, Credit line: Al Drago – Pool via CNP / DPA Picture Alliance / Avalon
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- Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, speaks during a news conference in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Thursday, Jan. 21, 2021. Biden in his first full day in office plans to issue a sweeping set of executive orders to tackle the raging Covid-19 pandemic that will rapidly reverse or refashion many of his predecessor’s most heavily criticized policies.,Image: 585217529, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: usage worldwide, Model Release: no, Credit line: Al Drago – Pool via CNP / DPA Picture Alliance / Avalon
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- Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, is seen during a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing to discuss the on-going federal response to Covid-19 on Tuesday, May 11, 2021 at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C.,Image: 610355620, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: usage worldwide, Model Release: no, Credit line: Greg Nash – Pool via CNP / DPA Picture Alliance / Avalon
The main metric I track is the hospitalization rate in the NYTimes, and it’s at a reassuring all time low since the start of the pandemic in March 2020. My hope is that COVID just turns into a bad cold with a fancy name, and we all simply add a COVID booster to our annual flu shots.
I work for a hospital and we get weekly Youtube video updates from our CEO, and yes, currently it’s at an all time low, so I am hopeful. Hospital employees still mask of course, and the non-clinical side still have to mask up anytime you leave your desk. I’m just hoping that finally enough people who got vaxed and boosted, including kids, finally made the dent in spreading that it needed. I’m still guarded about it since, you know, some people always manage to f**k it up for everyone, but I am trying to stay optimistic.
That’s pretty much what it will morph into (at least in this country; we still have to make sure it doesn’t mutate into something worse in countries that don’t have the vaccine numbers up yet). I for one, will get a booster yearly or bi-yearly…whatever is proven to be the best protection. I got my 2nd booster 2 wks before I went on my trip to WI and NY a few weeks ago, and while def. masked in the airports (4!) and on the planes, I felt SO much safer.
***Kaiser, if there is a CVS in your area, go online to schedule an appt. I had no problem getting my 2nd booster that way, no questions asked in the store. I was tipped off by someone in my Twitter feed to do this.
I agree about CVS. I got my booster there, they are awesome.
***Came to say the same. I am in NOVA and easily scheduled/received a 4th shot at my local CVS Friday. Scheduled online though walk-ins are often available. No questions. Not 50. (Was “on the couch” ill for 24 hrs). Good luck!
I know the NY city hospital near me (major top hospital) is surging and + rate going up. I think the latest variant is very, very contagious.
According to the Guardian, our national two week case average is up 44%. In my area, cases are up 95.2% since last week. Two things: I don’t think cases were ever quite as low as reported (I think people were testing at home and not reporting their results), and it is VERY IMPORTANT that we understand that viruses mutating to become less deadly is NOT a one-way street. You can just look at covid itself: we have had more recent strains that were more innately dangerous than orginal, wild-type covid. I think Fauci is bowing to political pressure/reality. There isn’t much political support for intervention right now, and there won’t be until things get so bad we absolutely cannot ignore it. For the sake of the immunocompromised, the elderly, kids under 5, kids with anti-vax parents, and–oh yeah–the *millions* of people in this country who will end up with Long Covid, I wish we would hold on to masking and caution until we were sure the fire was OUT, rather than just smoldering… but I’m not the boss of anybody other than me.
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/09/01/816707182/map-tracking-the-spread-of-the-coronavirus-in-the-u-s
I’ve been following this metric and have been watching as cases are climbing back up. I check on my state (Oregon). At it’s lowest, a few weeks ago, it was 4 new daily cases per 100k. Now it’s up to 20. Of course I would imagine that people who test positive from a home test don’t report it, so I don’t think that it’s a fully accurate number. It updates on Mondays and Thursdays.
We’re getting there but I don’t think we’re there yet. Hang in there.
Yea as the parent of a under 5 in Texas the pandemic isn’t over for me yet. Although I saw that moderna submitted their EUA today so hopefully it’s right around the corner.
May I ask if TX having lower vaccination rates is a factor in your unease? Bc I’m in MA and by and large it seems like parents of under-5s don’t give a flying fuck about it anymore… tons of people bringing little kids into restaurants for unnecessary meals out, etc.
Yeah, the pandemic is far from over. My brother in law (young, healthy) has long covid now and cannot work anymore. An alarming number of colleagues (and friends) have acute cases right now. Maybe it’s different here in central europe, but this is very far from over.
Yep, I’m another parent with one child still not vaccinated. Only my eldest has had Covid and that was after being vaccinated and boosted. He caught it at school, of course. No one else in the house caught it from him. Until my daughter is vaccinated, we’re still in a pandemic. Especially as kids can develop long term complications like diabetes. The recent hepatitis outbreak might also be linked to Covid, but they haven’t been able to determine if it’s a factor or not. It’s like people forget that it is still a new illness and we don’t know the long term effects yet. Look at chicken pox for instance. We now know that having chicken pox when you are young can lead to shingles when you are older. Luckily we have vaccines for both now, but it took time to find those links. So until everyone in my house is vaccinated, we are still taking precautions. Not to mention, my son missed a week of school when he had Covid and got behind in his schoolwork and then missed another week because he had a cold and we had to make sure he didn’t have Covid before he was allowed back. So even though he didn’t get that sick, I would still like to avoid the lengthy school absences as much as possible too.
I’m waiting to be able to get my 2nd booster. I’m under 50. I am still hella cautious but I have a big family trip this July and I want to be boosted before I go.
My husband and I decided to hold off on our second booster Incase we get a big surge from this more infectious variant.
We’re in California so we’re about 3 weeks behind what happens on the east coast.
We want to wait so we have the highest immunity when it gets here.
I’m quite shocked to hear anyone, especially Fauci, say the pandemic is over. I’ve never known so many people who have COVID. Emails about cases in my kids’ schools stream in every day. Some people I’ve known get quite sick–not hospital sick (everyone is vaccinated), but bad flu sick. Here in Ontario where I live, case numbers are quite high. As soon as mask mandates were lifted, cases rose steeply (of course). If you are still looking to avoid COVID, going to a salon unmasked is not a wise choice.
The sixth wave is coming. Little kids are needing liver transplants due to severe hepatitis after covid infections. I don’t even know what to think or how to feel anymore.
Moxylady, I would be cautious in repeating that information as I don’t think there is any definitive evidence to connect the two. I may be wrong, but what is your source on the link between Covid-19 and severe hepatitis in juveniles post-infection?
COVID attacks your organs, causes neurological damage. COVID is also causes a dramatic increase in diabetes in children. And each subsequent time you contract COVID it causes more damage. My partner still doesn’t have his sense of smell back: that’s neurological damage. I recommend going though this research: https://patientresearchcovid19.com/
@Songs I have no personal knowledge but this conclusion is from the Pediatric Infections Disease Journal: “Clinicians should consider SARs-CoV-2 as a possible etiology of acute nonicteric hepatitis even in children with mild respiratory symptoms.”
https://journals.lww.com/pidj/Fulltext/2021/05000/SARS_CoV_2_Infection_May_Present_as_Acute.38.aspx Vol 40 Issue 5 May 2021
The article you posted (thanks, btw :-)’) said that there haven’t been any observed cases yet. Yet, I know.
I am all for precaution and taking things seriously but it seems like borrowing trouble a bit to follow that it WILL happen. I sincerely hope it doesn’t.
I believe Fauci is speaking about the us specifically not globally
But pandemics are, by their very nature, global not national. People travel internationally all the time (esp now with mask mandates taken away). To say the US is “out” of the pandemic literally does not make sense because either the entire global is out of the pandemic or it’s not.
And, um, just because people are “done” with the pandemic–tired of masking– doesn’t meant the pandemic is done with people! Long Covid is real. There are spikes in hepatitis in children linked to Covid. It’s not just a cold–it can produce real long term damage/disability even if you have a ‘mild’ case.
Honestly, it’s super depressing that everyone is like “Okay it’s over!” when 1) it’s not and 2) the young, the old, the immunocompromised now have to be even more vigilant because everyone else is like “fuck it”
Agree with those saying 1) the pandemic is global and 2) i am very skeptical that we’re in the “ending phase.” The world isn’t vaccinated, the US is under-boosted, and the CDC has dropped the few (simple and effective) precautions we have available to stop the rapid spread of disease.
I follow many aerosol scientists on twitter and they are advocating for cleaning the air via filtration (and possibly UV light techniques, though I haven’t seen widespread consensus on that as of now). We could have been cleaning indoor airspaces for the past 3.5 years, but there has been no movement on it in a concerted way. I’m so disappointed with the CDC and its leadership.
I’m sympathetic to the political pressure the Biden admin faces from willfully ignorant political actors riling up their base, but for the love of Pete, if you want to “go back to normal,” advocate for using the tools we have. Burying our heads in the sand results in unnecessary deaths. I truly believe that COVID is going to be a mass disabling event due to long COVID, which I’ve heard from epidemiologists (specifically Akiko Iswasaki and David Putrino on the April 13 episode of the In the Bubble podcast) may actually be several disparate conditions. Our healthcare system already treats people with disabilities like trash, I cannot imagine how dismal it will be in 10 years if we don’t change the broken for-profit healthcare system.
/endrant
He said it’s the ending PHASE, *not* “THE END OF…” there’s a difference.
@summer agree 100%!
I am very surprised by this comment given that the pandemic is global in nature. As we have seen the virus doesn’t respect national borders and if it is still raging in other countries that can lead to new variants which then travel around the world. This seems very premature to say it’s now endemic in the US?? I hope and pray that this will be true but seems hard to believe at this point… I know there was some hope that the high rate of infection of omicron, coupled with vaxx rates could lead to some herd immunity but has that really happened when people are getting omicron variants more than once? And again, what is happening in other countries that can lead to new variants?
Yes ON seems to be in the thick of it still. I know Fauci is speaking about the US, but I agree with Naomi, a pandemic is by definition a widespread event so it doesn’t make much sense to talk about one single country as being in or out of a pandemic phase.
@Summer: I am kinda shocked aswell. So many kids around me are sick right now, and quite a handful of adults too (mostly those with kids). Also long covid case in the family. I am also, let’s just say very surprised that the author goes to salons maskless. I remember that this site was very pro mask and pro health precautions. Maybe things are much better in the US than they are in europe.
I think his original comment was open to misinterpretation unfortunately (I certainly read it as him saying the pandemic was over when he said we are “out of the pandemic phase in this country”), but he clarified, as reported by CNN, “We’re not over the pandemic. Don’t let anybody get the misinterpretation that the pandemic is over, but what we are in is a different phase of the pandemic. A phase that’s a transition phase, hopefully headed toward more of a control where you can actually get back to some form of normality without total disruption of society, economically, socially, school-wise, etc.”
I have covid right now (caught it on my first work trip in two years). It was basically a cold for me, but the fatigue is extreme and has lasted more than a week now. I don’t recommend it even though I never got that “sick.” We still don’t know the long-term effects and who wants to just recreationally get an unknown bat virus anyway?
All of my preschool speech kids are currently in quarantine because of exposure to unvaxed symptomatic classroom staff. We are required to mask still, but you know an anti-vax person is going to be lax about mask wearing. A quarter of them were already in quarantine due to exposure elsewhere (most often a school aged sibling but I don’t know for sure with all of them). I’m in western NY State and the transmission rate here is high currently, but I don’t think there are a lot of hospitalizations – not like it was before the vaccine. I have continued to mask everywhere and so glad I haven’t dropped my guard. I can’t believe how many people don’t mask in stores now!
Still a lot of masking in Oakland, Berkeley, SF: hair salons, doctor offices, restaurants…
We take it seriously here, and with good reason. SF is the second most densely populated region in the nation. And infection rates are still very high though hospitalization rates are way down. I know lots of people who’ve gotten it recently and even though it only amounted to four days of discomfort and binge watching, we don’t know what all the long haul will bring.
Yep, just got over it less than a week ago, it knocked me out for a few days, but my work has COVID days of which I used 5, I work hybrid but 90% home.
I did go out to bars and dancing, they were checking vaccination but got it the same. Funny thing is my friends didn’t!
I’m back to normal now, just sleep a lot and sometimes have to nap in the afternoon.
That’s wise, and I will keep masking as well although everyone around me has relaxed their precautions; I do not want to get sick, with the flu or COVID or anything.
I’m in LA, and got my hair done last week. I wore my mask, but my hair stylist didn’t until he started to work on me, and then asked if I would like him to wear one. I said “No, that’s ok”, but he put one on anyway because he’s kind and thoughtful.
I am going to visit my vulnerable family members in 2 weeks, so I am being extra vigilant now. Mask wearing REALLY doesn’t bother me, so I will continue to wear one if I am in an enclosed space with others.
It doesn’t feel like the pandemic is over so much as we’ve decided to throw disabled and immunocomprised people under the bus
TBF Fauci was talking strictly about the US and not Canada. And he said the pandemic “phase” in the US was over…for now.
I trust Dr. Fauci and am so grateful for his continued service. I wear my mask when I go grocery store shopping and to Target. I usually only go to outdoor shopping spaces and even there I have my mask handy. I still don’t know how folks are going on vacations where you have to fly. I am not ready for that sh*t yet.
I’ve flown during Covid, but not since they ended the mask mandate. I really don’t want to right now because of that.
Maybe it’s true from a country and statistics point of view, but let me tell you this is gonna still be going on in my brain for a few more months and I predict years till I know this disease isnt going to be a surprise killer.
We see new variants that are morphing and becoming less deadly (that’s how diseases evolve) but I want to be more certain of it that this is the certain fixed result and no new deadly variant pops up. So FFP2 for me all the time, still.
I’m still masking indoors. I actually had jury duty this week & about a third of us were masked. In addition to not wanting to catch COVID–especially since we don’t know the long term effects–I don’t want to catch anything else! I tested negative for COVID in January but was still knocked out for a few days due to a good old fashioned cold. I forgot how unpleasant they can be.
Reading what he said, I get it, about half the country has at least one round of the vaccine and half of that half have a booster. I’m still waiting for the announcement of my second booster though. And I’m still wearing my mask.
The hospitals are on a break, at least for now. I believe another wave is coming this summer because people don’t wanna act right. They never do.
Does Fauci mean we’ve transitioned from pandemic to endemic phase?
I still mask (N95) in indoor public spaces and still social distance outside my home. Long covid is very real and the stories of people dealing with that are terrible and aren’t really being given the media attention it deserves. I don’t want to get it, period.
Same here, I’ve gone to a few events that have required vaccine/masking, but almost no one here is wearing them otherwise. I still try to, and our state is mandating them in any medical office, which I would be fine with continuing forever.
A woman I know has long Covid and is still on oxygen. It’s terrible.
‘Long covid is very real and the stories of people dealing with that are terrible and aren’t really being given the media attention it deserves.”
YES, this!!!!!
I’m a teacher….still masking. Not gonna stop me from doing it if I am stuck in a classroom with 30 adults, some masked and many not. It may be improving, but it is not over yet! I’ll do anything not to get it as a 63-year-old taking care of an 87-year-old!
Teacher here, still masking in the classroom and closed buildings though not compulsory anymore in my country (it’s only compulsory on public transports and hospitals and care centers for the elderly)
I still wear a mask indoors, and I have lost a great deal of respect for people who do not. They don’t have time for a mask, and I don’t have time to mind my p’s and q’s with them.
I’m still masking and wearing KN95s/N95s, as is my husband. He’s immunocompromised, as am I technically (pregnant). Once the baby is born, we will have to be cautious for different reasons, at least until daycare inevitably takes us all down.
This pandemic is definitely not over for people with children under 6. They’ve been all but forgotten by this country.
As someone with Ra who is on a biological & was told I could have as low as a 15% likelihood of survival should I get Covid, it’s still very real.
I wear my mask always, get rude comments at times that I pretend not to hear. Also it’s hard as people can’t understand why I won’t have them over or go over unless it’s an outdoor activity. My own family is divided and it’s very tough at times.
I have all my shots & boosters but sometimes I feel like the immune suppressed in our society are considered throw away.
I’m happily working at home always have & try to keep it positive but things like no masks on planes really is trying me. People only seem to care about things that directly affect them, it’s a little trying at times.
Omicron has certainly helped with general immunity in the US.
We are very lucky that it wasn’t more deadly.
The pandemic isn’t over, we still have 3-4 more waves coming according to all the epidemiologists I follow.
We need to really really hope that the next ones don’t have a higher death rate.
Just got word that someone in my office tested positive. I’ve been wearing my mask, but pretty much everyone else hasn’t been.
The pandemic isn’t over. Just because everyone is deep in denial about it, does not mean it’s going away and media disinformation like this isn’t helping.
Did you know huge numbers of epidemiologists are now referring to Covid as Airborne HIV? Because of the similarities in the way both delete T-cells so destroy the immune system:
https://twitter.com/upupaep55949188/status/1519447035929407490
It’s already been established that Covid re-animates latent viruses, including a major Cancer causing tumour virus:
https://twitter.com/enemyinastate/status/1516088683761483783
We’re seeing a lot of denial about the links between Covid in cases of hepatitis in children, but those links will all come out in the end.
https://twitter.com/meinhardtthomas/status/1518878542544601089
We’re now also seeing a link between osteonecrosis and long term Covid – where bones effectively start to dissolve away: https://twitter.com/kunstjonas/status/1518485439535063040
To sum up, It not only causes direct harm (vascular disease, heart & brain damage, – even in those who are asymptomatic. As well as other organs and immunity depletion) it activates other viruses and opens the door to many other pathogens. It doesn’t confer immunity. It depletes immunity instead. Reinfections will only worsen the immune damage. Like HIV, it may not show up for months or years, but epidemiologists are currently terrified at the horrific damage we are going to see in a variety of different illnesses down the line. This pandemic is not over. It’s the largest mass disabling event in history, and we should all be terrified of it instead of stopping wearing masks and pretending we’re back to ‘normal’.
Sal is gaving missinfornatin
Sel is gaving missinfornatin