White House coronavirus adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci said Wednesday it’s unlikely we will fully eradicate the novel coronavirus, painting a picture of what’s to come in our future.

What’s happening:

Fauci said in an interview with TB Alliance that world leaders and public health officials can work to bring down the virus to lower levels, CNBC reports. But it won’t fully disappear, he said.

  • “I think with a combination of good public health measures, a degree of global herd immunity and a good vaccine, which I do hope and feel cautiously optimistic that we will get, I think when we put all three of those together, we will get control of this, whether it’s this year or next year. I’m not certain.”
  • “I don’t really see us eradicating it.” 

Fauci said the novel coronavirus won’t be like SARS, a coronavirus that was contained back in the early aughts. He said it will become like the common cold, if anything, CNBC reports

  • “I have never seen infection in which you have such a broad range literally no symptoms at all in a substantial proportion of the population to some who get ill with minor symptoms to some who get ill enough to be in bed for weeks. Others get hospitalized, require oxygen, intensive care, ventilation and death. The involvement with the same pathogen is very unique.”

What President Trump says

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Meanwhile, President Donald Trump has long suggested that the novel coronavirus would disappear. In fact, he has said it on 21 different occasions, according to The Washington Post.

  • “The virus will disappear. It will disappear,” he said.
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