Here's why Dr. Fauci says the U.S. is 'out of the pandemic phase'

The United States is no longer in the grip of the COVID-19 pandemic, despite the coronavirus' continuing global threat, according to Dr. Anthony Fauci, chief medical adviser to President Biden. But Fauci also warns that people should still be mindful of the disease.

"We are certainly right now in this country out of the pandemic phase," Fauci said in an interview with PBS Newshour. "Namely, we don't have 900,000 new infections a day and tens 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."

Despite a recent rise of COVID-19 cases, including Vice President Kamala Harris, Fauci reiterated that hospitalization rates are only rising slowly, unlike during the surge driven by delta variant. And CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said on Tuesday that U.S. coronavirus deaths have fallen to a seven-day average of about 300 per day.

The U.S. also has more tools to prevent worst-case scenarios, such as the powerful antiviral pill Paxlovid, which cuts the risk of getting hospitalized with COVID by nearly 90% and was authorized by the FDA at the end of 2021.