Just about everyone wants the pandemic to be over. But is it?
In mid-September, President Biden announced the pandemic was over in the United States in a 60 minutes interview.
“We still have a problem with COVID. We’re still doing a lotta 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,” he said.
At one point, over 3,000 Americans were dying each day from COVID-19 at the height of the pandemic so far. In fall 2022, numbers have come down but daily deaths from the illness still hover around 400 people, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
What the World Health Organization has said
Headlines on the World Health Organization’s (WHO) website currently say it’s no time for complacency when it comes to COVID. Countries like Norway and South Africa have emphasized the pandemic is not yet over. Many countries worldwide have not yet met global targets when it comes to access to enough PPE, COVID-19 vaccines, testing rates, and treatments. For high-risk people and lower-income countries, the pandemic is far from over, the WHO states.
Related: Can you get a flu shot and a COVID-19 booster at the same time?
A pandemic is defined by Merriam-Webster as something that occurs over a wide geographic area and affects a significant part of the population. In this regard, one could argue that COVID-19 is both still causing a pandemic and not. Since the population of the US is over 300 million people, while every life is precious, having 400 people die per day from the disease isn’t a large portion of the population. It’s actually 0.00013% of the population, which is admittedly quite small. Still, this is two to three times the annual maximum estimated death rate of the flu in the US.
Let’s see what the winter will bring
In the UK, experts are predicting the rise in coronavirus cases this fall could be worse than last year’s. People are tired of getting vaccines and not testing as much. This, coupled with waning immunity, could lead to a heavier rise in cases. A Reuters post states experts feel cases in the US could rise to a million infections per day this winter. With people spending more time inside as the weather cools, and this year without masks or social distancing, cases are likely to rise. Thankfully experts predict that hospitalizations and deaths won’t rise to the same degree as case counts, which has been a recurring theme throughout the pandemic. Some say those who have yet to catch COVID-19 and are not yet vaccinated are most at-risk of falling sick. Those with a compromised immune system who aren’t vaccinated are most at-risk of developing a serious case and dying.
Once COVID-19 becomes endemic, it will simply be something that can still cause a high burden of disease and that we simply live with and accept as part of life.
The biggest worry is that a new, stronger variant will arise that can better evade immunity but that remains to be seen. Making forecasts and predicting what will happen with this virus is increasingly difficult. The only certainty is that COVID-19 isn’t going away any time soon.
photo credits: TomyPhotos/Shutterstock.com
