Here's When Dr. Fauci Really Thinks We Will Have Covid Under Control

If you had told most people Covid-19 would still be controlling our lives in the fall of 2021, we wouldn't have believed it. But, here we are, with the virus' new variant, Delta, causing cases to spike nationwide (via U.S. News & World Report). Throughout the pandemic, Dr. Anthony Fauci has shared his view on when things might go back to normal, saying in February, "Hopefully, by the time we start entering 2022, we really will have a degree of normality that will approximate the kind of normality we've been used to" (via ABC News).

Then, on Monday, the White House chief medical advisor told NPR fall or winter of next year is when the U.S. is likely to gain control over Covid-19. Now, you do the math, because that means we could be looking at another year of pandemic restrictions.

Thankfully, Fauci later clarified his comments, saying on CNN that instead of fall or winter, Americans can look toward an earlier point at which we may see Covid-19 being more under control.

As the New York Post reports, when Dr. Fauci spoke to CNN's Anderson Cooper after his NPR interview, he noted, "I meant to say the spring of 2022, so I did misspeak."

Of course, gaining control over the virus will not happen on its own, with Fauci going on to say that if "the overwhelming majority of the 90 million people who have not been vaccinated" do so, "the spring of 2022" is an achievable time period for getting life back to normal.

As Fox News reports, the U.S. could see higher immunization rates now that the FDA has granted its full approval of the Pfizer vaccine for people ages 16 and older. The outlet also noted that previously, Fauci indicated Americans may need to get used to a new normal. In February he said, "It may or may not be precisely the way it was in November of 2019, but it will be much, much better than what we're doing right now" (via The Washington Post).