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 COVID-19 updates. View latest news.
COVID-19 updates. View latest news.

At his first press conference, the White House Pandemic response team's co-ordinator said he believed we were at an "inflection point". Many Americans seem to be moving on despite the fact that the Omicron BA.2 variant continues to grow.

Children are masked in schools. Washington is preparing for its first White House Correspondents Association dinner in two years, as well as a constellation of other parties in the days to come. President Biden will be attending the Saturday's Gala hosted by comedian Trevor Noah.

Dr. Anthony Fauci said on Tuesday that he wouldn't attend the WHCA dinner. He may have wanted to avoid the kind of scrutiny he faced after attending the Gridiron Gala, after which scores of attendees tested positive for COVID-19. The former surgeon general called the Gridiron a public health disaster.

Dr. Anthony Fauci stands at a podium labeled White House in front of an American flag.
Dr. Anthony Fauci in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House in 2020. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

The Washington Post canceled its WHCA party, but nearly 20 similar events are planned around the same event. It will be an opportunity for many to dress up and party with real people for the first time in two years. Attendees are required to bevaccinated and test negative for Covid if they attend the event.

The WHCA is not the only party in town after two years in which the District of Columbia was a model of caution with its pandemic restrictions, a challenging reality for a city that is fueled by networking and social events. The tourists are important to the local economy.

The American Hospital Association held its annual meeting in the District of Columbia, with no health checks required for attendees.

Hundreds of infections across the United States are dying daily, and thousands are reporting new infections.

Hundreds attend the White House Correspondents Dinner 2017 at the Washington Hilton Hotel in Washington, D.C. on April, 29, 2017. (Marvin Joseph/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
Hundreds attend the White House Correspondents Dinner 2017 at the Washington Hilton Hotel in Washington, D.C. on April, 29, 2017. (Marvin Joseph/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

With 95 percent of the American population estimated to have some level of immunity, there seems to be a growing sense of exhaustion combined with inevitability.

The Biden administration has argued that hospitalizations are a better measure of the severity of the Pandemic since a breakthrough infection is unlikely to make a person very sick. As Washington returns to its pre-pandemic ways, high-profile infections are bound to attract attention.

Vice President Harris will not be at the WHCA festivities this weekend because she tested positive for the coronaviruses.

Vice President Kamala Harris delivers remarks following a visit with expecting families and caregivers at UCSF Mission Bay on April 21, 2022 in San Francisco, CA. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
Vice President Kamala Harris delivers remarks following a visit with expecting families and caregivers at UCSF Mission Bay on April 21, 2022 in San Francisco, CA. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

On the same day that Fauci bowed out of the WHCA, he told PBS Newshour that the United States was out of the Pandemic phase. Fauci made his own assessments after the public health guardrails around those and many other activities were demolished.

The availability of care is the most important factor in determining the risk. White and non-white Americans have been the hardest hit by the Pandemic, and public health officials have noted the disparity in care between the wealthy and indigent. The rush to reopen and uncover is a form of public health apartheid, according to a recent article in The Nation.

The Biden administration is trying to make sure that treatments like Paxlovid, which is very, very effective in preventing severe disease, are available.

Paxlovid will be widely available in America. He said that it was going to help a lot.

The office of Harris said the vice president was taking Paxlovid as a precautionary measure. Party planning continued in the district.

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