“I want to clarify one thing. I probably should have said the acute component of the pandemic phase. And I understand how that can lead to some misinterpretation,” Fauci said on an NPR podcast.

“I was talking about the acute fulminant phase. And everyone agrees we’re not there. We’re not 900,000 new infections a day. Is the pandemic still here? Absolutely.”

On the radio and while speaking with the other news outlets, Fauci portrayed the situation as evolving between a pandemic phase to an endemic one, but not having arrived yet.