The director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) made these remarks during a Feb. 9 interview with the Financial Times (FT). "There is no way we are going to eradicate this virus," he told the paper. Fauci added that he looks forward to the population having sufficient immunity "that the COVID-19 restrictions will soon be a thing of the past," and hopes it would be "soon."

He also touched on local health authorities leading the way when it comes to making decisions related to COVID-19 instead of the federal government. "As we get out of the full-blown pandemic phase of COVID-19, which we are certainly heading out of, these decisions will increasingly be made on a local level rather than centrally decided or mandated. There will also be more people making their own decisions on how they want to deal with the virus," said Fauci.

Contrary to what other experts claim, Fauci did not mention COVID-19 becoming endemic thanks to the more infectious yet milder omicron variant. He also opened up the possibility of COVID-19 reaching an "equilibrium," in which the government no longer has to monitor infection levels. The NIAID director warned that local health departments could temporarily reimpose measures in cases where local transmission is detected.

Fauci's Feb. 9 FT interview came amid several states dropping mask mandates. These include California, New Jersey, Delaware and New York – which are all led by Democratic governors. Despite this, some cities have opted to keep mask-wearing orders in place.

Federal data showed COVID-19 infections driven by the omicron variant has dropped across the United States. COVID-19 hospitalizations have also had a significant drop over the past two weeks.