The pandemic will indeed end, as have others in our past.
But it Covid 19 & variants won't be eradicated....They'll
become endemic, & merely something we deal with,
just like the bubonic plague...it's still here, just uncommon.
This is a pretty comprehensive article about the issue.
But there might be a paywall for some. So I'll quote
a little, & I'll quote more upon request.
I recommend subscribing to National Geographic.
How will the pandemic end? The science of past outbreaks offers clues.
Excerpted...
How will the pandemic end? The science of past outbreaks offers clues.
The answer depends on many factors, perhaps the most critical being the global nature of the crisis.
BYJILLIAN KRAMER
PUBLISHED AUGUST 6, 2021
• 9 MIN READ
After months of encouraging trendlines, July’s dramatic spike in global COVID-19 infections has dimmed the proverbial light at the end of the pandemic tunnel.
In May, coronavirus cases were declining across the U.S., parts of Europe, and the Middle East as vaccination rates rose, spurring an easing of social and travel restrictions and a wave of business reopenings. But in the U.S., at least, any celebration was short-lived. By July, vaccination rates flatlined and highly transmissible coronavirus variants swept the nation, forcing health officials to reimpose masking recommendations and call for increased inoculations.
The World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic on March 11, 2020. After 17 grueling and chaotic months, weary people are wondering: When will the pandemic finally end?
“Even among the scientific community, you would get really different answers,” says Rachael Piltch-Loeb, a researcher and fellow with the Emergency Preparedness Research, Evaluation & Practice Program at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. “There is no one definition of what the end of a pandemic means.”
A pandemic is by definition a global crisis. Lifting some U.S. public health measures and interventions “gave people a sense that the panic was waning,” Piltch-Loeb says. That euphoria blinded many to the worldwide reality, which remains bleak.
“Until this [virus] is controlled or more limited globally, it’s not going away,” Piltch-Loeb says. That means declaring the pandemic’s “end” may be a distant goal, requiring different conditions depending on who’s asked.
Where do diseases go?
When the worldwide spread of a disease is brought under control in a localized area, it’s no longer a pandemic but an epidemic, according to the WHO. If COVID-19 persists globally at what the WHO judges to be “expected or normal levels,” the organization will then re-designate the disease “endemic.”
But it Covid 19 & variants won't be eradicated....They'll
become endemic, & merely something we deal with,
just like the bubonic plague...it's still here, just uncommon.
This is a pretty comprehensive article about the issue.
But there might be a paywall for some. So I'll quote
a little, & I'll quote more upon request.
I recommend subscribing to National Geographic.
How will the pandemic end? The science of past outbreaks offers clues.
Excerpted...
How will the pandemic end? The science of past outbreaks offers clues.
The answer depends on many factors, perhaps the most critical being the global nature of the crisis.
BYJILLIAN KRAMER
PUBLISHED AUGUST 6, 2021
• 9 MIN READ
After months of encouraging trendlines, July’s dramatic spike in global COVID-19 infections has dimmed the proverbial light at the end of the pandemic tunnel.
In May, coronavirus cases were declining across the U.S., parts of Europe, and the Middle East as vaccination rates rose, spurring an easing of social and travel restrictions and a wave of business reopenings. But in the U.S., at least, any celebration was short-lived. By July, vaccination rates flatlined and highly transmissible coronavirus variants swept the nation, forcing health officials to reimpose masking recommendations and call for increased inoculations.
The World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic on March 11, 2020. After 17 grueling and chaotic months, weary people are wondering: When will the pandemic finally end?
“Even among the scientific community, you would get really different answers,” says Rachael Piltch-Loeb, a researcher and fellow with the Emergency Preparedness Research, Evaluation & Practice Program at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. “There is no one definition of what the end of a pandemic means.”
A pandemic is by definition a global crisis. Lifting some U.S. public health measures and interventions “gave people a sense that the panic was waning,” Piltch-Loeb says. That euphoria blinded many to the worldwide reality, which remains bleak.
“Until this [virus] is controlled or more limited globally, it’s not going away,” Piltch-Loeb says. That means declaring the pandemic’s “end” may be a distant goal, requiring different conditions depending on who’s asked.
Where do diseases go?
When the worldwide spread of a disease is brought under control in a localized area, it’s no longer a pandemic but an epidemic, according to the WHO. If COVID-19 persists globally at what the WHO judges to be “expected or normal levels,” the organization will then re-designate the disease “endemic.”
