Joe Biden’s 'COVID-19-Is-Over' Declaration Gets Refuted by Experts: Here’s Why It’s Not

Following his grand pronouncements on CBS News' "60 Minutes" with Scott Pelley that the pandemic is over, President Joe Biden was on the receiving end of backlash as public health experts refuted his statement.

The White House, including Anthony Fauci, has also debunked Biden's statement about the end of the pandemic, noting that the country is not where it needs to be in the current state of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Biden's pronouncements came after the World Health Organization announced that the end of the COVID-19 pandemic is already "on-sight," affirming the declining number of death cases worldwide.

Is the COVID-19 Pandemic Really Over?

According to University of California, San Francisco Infectious Diseases Specialist Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, the pandemic is "emphatically not over." With 223,000 deaths so far this 2022, Hong underscored that the number of deaths per year is several-fold higher than a typical flu season.

In comparison, the average number of deaths during a flu season from 2011 to 2019 is only 35,000 per year. If the number of fatalities continues to remain that high, it would still be higher than diabetes and other respiratory illness-related deaths, Hong said.

Meanwhile, Rutgers School of Public Health Dean Perry Halkitis pointed out that Biden's pronouncement that the pandemic is over might be synonymous with "there's no disease," highlighting the "troubling" statement might be dangerous due to the increase in respiratory illness during fall season in the United States.

On the other hand, Biden is confident about the upcoming fall and winter season because of the rollout of Omicron-targeted vaccines to the public. The need for specific shots came about after the rise of the more contagious Omicron variant earlier this year.

Similarly, White House COVID-19 response coordinator Ashish Jha echoes the sentiments of other experts in the public health industry.

"The pandemic isn't over. And we will remain vigilant, and of course, we continue to look for and prepare for unforeseen twists and turns," Jha said in an earlier statement.

Biden's top adviser, leading infectious disease specialist Dr. Anthony Fauci, also refuted his boss' surprising announcement.

According to The Hill, Fauci said the United States is not where it needs to be if we are going to live with the virus. He also pointed out the difference between the virus with the smallpox virus, saying that the then-virus did not change from year to year compared to the mutating COVID-19 virus.

Why Did Joe Biden Say the COVID-19 Pandemic is Over?

In a 60-minute in-depth interview with CBS News correspondent Scott Pelley, President Joe Biden announced that the "pandemic is really over."

However, he does point out that there is still a problem with COVID-19, but he assured the public that they are doing "a lot of work" on it.

Last September 14, the World Health Organization announced that they have logged the lowest number of COVID-19-related deaths since its peak on March 2020.

"We are not there yet, but the end is in sight. Now is the worst time to stop running. Now is the time to run harder and make sure we cross the line and reap all the rewards of our hard work," the UN agency said in a press release.

CBS News data shows that the deaths globally have dropped to 22% as COVID-positive cases plummeted to 28%, following a declining trend in the past few weeks.

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Ivan Korrs

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