In a stunning change of rhetoric, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the architect of our nation’s COVID-19 response, seemingly conceded on Sunday that new government restrictions weren’t going to happen and that it’s now up to Americans to assess their own risk and act accordingly. Hallelujah!
“This is not going to be eradicated, and it’s not going to be eliminated,” Fauci said Sunday on ABC’s This Week. “And what’s going to happen is that we’re going to see that each individual is going to have to make their calculation of the amount of risk that they want to take.”
Fauci said that Americans will have to consider their age, vaccination status, and other factors to determine what precautions they want to take.
“We’re at that point where, in many respects, … we’re going to have to live with some degree of virus in the community,” he added.
This about-face comes less than two weeks after Fauci warned that new COVID restrictions could happen in response to the BA.2 omicron subvariant. He shied away from using the word “lockdowns” but suggested that mask mandates and other restrictions might return.
Related: The Morning Briefing: Is America’s Fauci Fatigue Nearing An End?
Fauci’s pivot to individual choice marks the first time he’s ever entertained the idea that people can assess their own risk and take whatever precautions they feel are appropriate. This, frankly, is what we should have done all along.
I can only imagine how bad the polling must have been for Fauci to shy away from the possibility of dictating new restrictions.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member