Is the COVID-19 Pandemic Over In the US? Here's What the Experts Say.

As the situation with COVID-19 continues to change and develop, AllEars will be bringing you the latest relevant news that could affect a theme park visit.

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected many parts of daily life for people around the world. We’ve seen huge changes come to Disney and Universal theme parks, some of which are still in place even 2 years after the start of the pandemic. But now, it looks like we may finally be nearing the tail end of this world-changing event.

COVID-19 Sign at Disney World

Recently, face mask mandates were ended in many public areas, including most places in Disney World and Disneyland, as well as on public transportation throughout the US. Despite newer variants of COVID-19 that are being researched now, it looks like a return to “normal” is well on the way. A US health official recently confirmed this by announcing that the US is no longer in a “full-blown pandemic phase.”

According to the Washington Post, Anthony Fauci (President Biden’s chief medical adviser) has stated that the United States is “out of the full-blown explosive pandemic phase.” The pandemic led to nearly 1 million deaths from COVID-19 in the US. Fauci expanded, “We’re really in a transitional phase, from a deceleration of the numbers into hopefully a more controlled phase and endemicity.”

©Washington Post

Fauci and other experts also clarified that being out of the explosive phase does not mean that the pandemic is over. New variants and infections will likely continue, but the hope is that most of the US population has built immunity from previous infections and been vaccinated, which could prevent the massive waves of infection that we saw with previous variants. According to the CDC, about 3 in 5 people in the US have been infected with some variant of COVID-19.

Former Mask Signage in Disney World

The most recent subvariant of COVID-19 is the BA.2.12.1, which is a variant of omicron. It is suggested to be “25% more transmissible than the omicron subvariant BA.2.”

COVID-19 Warning Sign

Some analysts are concerned that the public will misinterpret Fauci’s claim that the “full-blown pandemic phase” is over in the US. An epidemiologist said, “I don’t disagree with what Fauci said, but as soon as I heard it, I figured it would be wildly misinterpreted by your average member of the public.”

Dailly COVID-19 Update from the CDC ©CDC

Although the pandemic isn’t fully over, Fauci has said that the US is in “a different position than it was previously.” Now it appears we’re in the “deceleration phase.” In a few months, deaths have gone down from 3,000 a day to 300 a day.

Figment with a mask on!

The next phase after “deceleration” is “control,” which is when the virus is “still circulating but not causing devastating new waves of hospitalization and death.” Apparently, the US is not yet in this phase. Health experts continue to urge everyone to get vaccinated. The coronavirus will likely not be fully eradicated, but it “can be handled” according to Fauci.