Fauci says COVID-19 won't go away like smallpox, but will more likely become endemic

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top White House medical adviser, says that the coronavirus pandemic won't end with the elimination of the virus. Instead, he says that a less dangerous and disruptive strain of the virus will likely take hold and become endemic.

Speaking Monday at the World Economic Forum's Davos Agenda, Fauci said scientists don't know how exactly the pandemic will finally play out and that it's important "to be openly honest about that."

However, he said "if you look at the history of infectious diseases, we've only eradicated one infectious disease in man, and that's smallpox. That's not going to happen with this virus."

"But hopefully it will be at such a low level that it doesn't disrupt our normal social, economic and other interactions," said Fauci, who is director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.