The Washington Post, however, Fauci seemed to clarify his earlier remarks, saying that unlike the “full-blown explosive pandemic phase" during the brutal winter omicron surge, he was describing what appears to be a period of transition toward the coronavirus becoming an endemic disease. “The world is still in a pandemic.
There's no doubt about that. Don't anybody get any misinterpretation of that. We are still experiencing a pandemic," Fauci told the Post.
US Covid infections have receded sharply since January, although a resurgence in parts of Asia and Europe have raised concerns that one will follow in the United States given previous patterns during the two years of the pandemic.
In the Northeast, including New Jersey, New York and Massachusetts, Omicron BA.2 now makes up more than half the cases, according to data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).