RELATED: This Is the “Bad News” About COVID Right Now, Virus Expert Warns. During a Nov. 7 interview on CBS News’ Face the Nation, Scott Gottlieb, MD, the former commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), discussed the potential end of the COVID pandemic. According to Gottlieb, it might be just around the corner for the U.S. “I think that we’re close to the end of the pandemic phase of this virus, and we’re going to enter a more endemic phase,” he explained. An endemic virus is one that is still present but spreading at a much lower level, per Harvard Health. According to The Wall Street Journal, other countries—like Portugal, which had the highest COVID vaccination rate in Europe during late October—have already hit the transitional period from pandemic to endemic. Gottlieb said this has happened in the U.K. as well. “In the U.K. we saw a spike in cases. But it’s like, it’s pretty much back to normal life at pre-pandemic types of levels in the U.K. right now, and cases are starting to decline again,” Gottlieb said. As the U.S. nears its own endemic phase, cases could still rise in the country, Gottlieb said. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), COVID cases are only declining by a little more than 1 percent for the week of Nov. 5, despite declining by more than 7 percent a week prior. That means there is now more of a plateau in cases rather than a significant drop. “As this situation improves here in the U.S., people are going to go out. More cases may pick up. But that doesn’t mean that we’re entering into another wave of infection,” Gottlieb said. “I think we’re close to the end of this. This Delta wave is the last major wave of infection.” RELATED: For more up-to-date information, sign up for our daily newsletter. According to Gottlieb, the end of COVID’s pandemic stage is close in the U.S. for two reasons: child vaccinations and pills that could treat the symptoms of COVID. On Nov. 2, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky, MD, signed off on the recommendation that children five to 11 years old can be vaccinated against COVID with Pfizer’s pediatric vaccine. “We’ve always said that two of the events that would demarcate the end of this pandemic was being able to vaccinate our children. We’re now able to do that down to age five,” Gottlieb explained. “Also having a widely available or orally accessible drug that could treat coronavirus at home to prevent people from being hospitalized or dying. And we now have two of those potential pills, one from Pfizer and one from Merck, and there will be more behind that.” In an announcement released Nov. 5, Pfizer said its antiviral pill was found to reduce the risk of hospitalization and death among high-risk adults with COVID by 89 percent within three days after symptom onset. The manufacturer still has to submit data to the FDA to seek authorization for the pill to be used in the U.S., which it said it plans to do soon. Merck submitted an application to the FDA for its antiviral pill in early October, but it is still awaiting federal authorization.ae0fcc31ae342fd3a1346ebb1f342fcb Previously, Gottlieb indicated that upcoming vaccine mandates will also aid in moving the U.S. out of the pandemic. On Nov. 5, the White House announced that employees of large companies, health care workers, and federal contractors must be fully vaccinated by Jan. 4. According to the administration, these mandates will cover two-thirds of all workers, with more than 84 million employees and 17 million health care workers impacted “These mandates that are going to be put in place by Jan. 4 really are coming on the tail end of this pandemic,” Gottlieb said during a Nov. 5 interview on CNBC’s Squawk Box. “By Jan. 4, this pandemic may well be over, at least as it relates to the United States after we get through this Delta wave of infection. And we’ll be in a more endemic phase of this virus.” RELATED: Dr. Fauci Just Gave This Essential Update on the Next COVID Variants.
