Dr. Anthony Fauci, the federal government’s top infectious disease expert, told The Financial Times in an interview published Tuesday that the U.S. will never “eradicate” COVID-19, but will eventually reach a state of “equilibrium” with the virus. He added that he hopes pandemic restrictions would end “soon.”

The US is heading out of the 'full blown' pandemic phase of Covid-19, according to Anthony Fauci, the president's chief medical adviser https://t.co/e7KyuiWH2K

— Financial Times (@FinancialTimes) February 9, 2022

“I hope we are looking at a time when we have enough people vaccinated and enough people with protection from previous infection that the COVID restrictions will soon be a thing of the past,” Fauci said.

He added that the country is “certainly heading out” of the omicron wave, which caused new infections to skyrocket to record levels.

Fauci’s comments came as the number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 dipped below 100,000 for the first time in more than a month. Over the past two weeks, new infections have also plunged 63%.

Given that data, many Democratic governors have begun to rollback COVID-19 precautions like indoor mask mandates.

Gov. Kathy Hochul is expected to let New York’s mask-or-vaccine mandate expire this week. She is basing her decision on the state’s latest Covid data and talks with public health experts, including Dr. Anthony Fauci, official said. https://t.co/YYzBhpEEs0

— The New York Times (@nytimes) February 9, 2022

Fauci said pandemic decisions will increasingly be made on the “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,” he added.