President Biden says the pandemic is over, but do SWFL medical experts agree?

President Joe Biden says the pandemic is over. Cases are down, but hundreds of people are still dying each day from COVID-19.

The face of the pandemic may very well be Doctor Anthony Fauci. He maintains that Americans should not let their guard down, despite what the president said Sunday on 60 Minutes.

“The pandemics over. The pandemic is over. We still have a problem with COVID. We’re still doing a lot of work on it. But the pandemic is over. If you notice, no one’s wearing masks. Everybody seems to be in pretty good shape. And so, I think it’s changing, and I think this is a perfect example of it,” said Biden.

The ‘this’ that the president referred to is the Detroit Auto Show back in business after COVID-19 shut it down the last two years.

Doctor Fauci tried to walk back the president’s words during an interview with Politico Monday, saying, “What he really meant… Is that the very severe stage of the pandemic of having 30,000 deaths a day– that stage is no longer present.”

Immokalee Doctor Antonio Gonzalez, with the Community Medical Center, agrees with Fauci. “We as doctors working in medical facilities, we know that this is far from over.”

Cases are down in most states. Florida now has just a 12.4% positivity rate compared to nearly double that in July.

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Charlie Crist typically backs the president, but he would not verify the pandemic is over.

“Well, there’s still some of that going on. We all want it to be over, that’s for sure. But it’s still with us. It is what it is,” said Crist.

WINK News asked Crist how he would address COVID-19. “Better than DeSantis. 80,000 of our fellow Floridians are dead.”

Lee Health and NCH both said they’re also treating fewer patients, but is the pandemic over? The World Health Organization and many doctors say no.