Will the pandemic become endemic?: 5 considerations
Almost two years have passed since, according to most, this horrible pandemic began to infect humans! It seems that we have missed many opportunities by failing to act, when necessary, in a timely and well-considered manner, under the auspices of scientific and medical experts and professionals! Over 800,000 Americans have lost their lives (and probably even more), and several million, worldwide, and tens of millions (and more) have been infected, to varying degrees, etc! It seems that every time we feel like we’ve made a step forward, in this battle, the virus has mutated and we end up losing more ground. The original version, the Delta variant, and now, Omicron, have shown incredible resilience and lethal power. Even with the rapid deployment of vaccines, believed to be the best ever created to combat any virus, etc, we are still losing lives, and many are infected, etc! It seems that we have also lost 2 years and the economies, as well as the economic conditions, all over the world, continue to suffer! Many supply chains, employment and mental health have also fallen victim! Many now believe that we can, and probably never will, totally get rid of this, but, more likely, we will transform into an endemic disease, like influenza (flu, etc.). That means that we will start to consider it, as, with – us, and a part – of, our normal, everyday life, and, instead of seeking to eliminate it, and/or a cure, we will do as much as possible. It will likely require a series of boosters – vaccinations etc – and some common sense – public health – to significantly minimize the overall impact. With that in mind, this article will briefly attempt to consider, examine, review, and discuss 5 considerations going forward.
1. Rhythm of vaccinations/vaccinations, versus, mutation rate, etc: Unfortunately, many are their own worst enemies, paying more attention to empty promises, conspiracy theories, and so-called alternative approaches and/or denials/minimization than listening to the experts and doing their job. part, getting vaccinated and wearing a mask, social distancing, etc. While there will be cases of rupture, for the most part, we believe, these will be mild, and the majority of severe cases, hospitalizations, and deaths will be from the unvaccinated, and immunocompromised, etc! If more people had the vaccine, these mutations would have far fewer places to breed, etc.
two. World rate: This is a global public health crisis, and since there are significant, socioeconomic differences, between the richest and poorest nations, the risk is greater! Although President Biden has promised and pledged many millions of doses of treatment, many other nations have yet to get on their feet.
3. Transmission, versus, severity: One of the challenges, for the testing process, is that currently many are tested, and the results are imperfect, non-symptomatic, as well as more serious cases, they are counted equally! How many people, annually, get the flu, but don’t know, and are never reported, because the result can be, not – serious?
Four. Will we begin to see, more broadly, the acceptance of common sense, public health measures?: This battle must be continuous and persistent! We cannot stop using common sense, in the search, to reduce the impacts! Why do we continue to witness so many not getting vaccinated, using public spaces, and/or wearing a mask, when appropriate? Why should this be a political issue, when it should be focused on public health?
5. Ease/convenience of more reliable tests: Today, most tests are difficult to locate, expensive, inconvenient, and many results are false positives and/or negatives. We need to address how to improve this component!
Despite many feeling pandemic-fatigue, shutdown, smart public health approaches, now, will have the worst impacts, will continue, longer than otherwise! Unfortunately, this virus will likely be with us for a significant period of time, and we need to figure out the best way to transform endemic conditions smartly and safely.