Is the COVID-19 pandemic over in the United States?In an interview aired September 18, U.S. President Joe Biden did say "the pandemic is over".But formally speaking, the U.S. has not declared the end of the pandemic.The country is still operating under a public health emergency, first declared in January, 2020.The government is expected to renew that labeling in October, but it's also likely to let the public health emergency expire in January, 2023.The World Health Organization reported in mid-September that the global number of weekly reported deaths from COVID-19 was the lowest since March 2020."We are not there yet. But the end is in sight."Vaccines and treatments have helped lower the rates of death and severe illnesses.But in the U.S., an average of nearly 400 people a day continue to die from COVID-19, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and an average of over 4,300 are hospitalized each day.And top U.S. infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci says the virus is continuing to evolve."With the combination of the evolution of variants as well as the seasonal aspects that as we get into this coming late fall and winter, it is likely that we will see another variant emerge."
