Fauci dismisses rumours about resignation and says there’s still a ‘way to go’ before pandemic ends
Fauci says US can expect an uptick in cases due to an Omicron sub-variant
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Anthony Fauci has dismissed rumours about plans to retire anytime soon and said that he wanted to see the US completely out of the coronavirus pandemic before he left.
On Sunday, TV host George Stephanopoulos asked Dr Fauci if he is planning to get “some rest” if the country is nearing the end of the pandemic during an interview for ABC’s This Week.
“I’m not so sure, George,” the US chief medical adviser said. “I want to make sure we’re really out of this before I really seriously consider doing anything different. We’re still in this.”
He added that there was still some “way to go” before Americans are out of the danger of Covid, adding: “I think we got clearly going in the right direction. I hope we stay that way.”
The director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases had kicked off rumours about his retirement on Saturday, when he said the US might be nearing the end of the pandemic.
“I have said that I would stay in what I’m doing until we get out of the pandemic phase, and I think we might be there already,” he said on ABC’s Start Here podcast on Saturday, leading to speculation.
On Sunday, Dr Fauci added that he didn’t expect full-scale strict restrictions to come back in the US, but urged people to be “flexible” if cases increase due to the BA.2 sub-variant of Omicron.
“I don’t see us going back into any more really very restrict kinds of restrictions. But you always have to have the flexibility,” Dr Fauci said.
“The bottom line is we likely will see an uptick in cases, as we’ve seen in the European countries, particularly the UK ,” he said. “Hopefully we won’t see a surge. I don’t think we will.”
Though infections, hospitalisations and deaths are declining in the US, the BA.2 sub-variant of Omicron has increased the caseload in parts of Europe and Asia, specifically in China and Hong Kong.
The sub-variant accounts for about 20 to 40 per cent of the new infections in US states, according to data from the CDC.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments