![]() It’s the moral thing to do, and it will reduce the odds of future mutations defeating the vaccines. Wealthy countries will have to do much more to spread vaccines globally. Businesses can play a role by adopting workplace policies that strongly encourage vaccinations. More Americans will need to be vaccinated to prevent further large waves. So too, we won’t stop fighting to reduce COVID-19 when we adjust to the idea that this virus will share the planet with us for a long time. We don’t stop fighting all fires when we prepare our communities to survive a wildfire. We don’t abandon efforts to reverse climate change when we start working to adapt to its effects. But Coloradans have experience in this type of thinking: We are adapting our lives the effects of global warming, and FireWise communities take actions to live with wildfires, rather than ignoring the risk or trying in vain to eliminate fires. This mindset calls for an ability to appraise and deal with risk - something humans are not very good at. ![]() Smallpox has been eradicated, and polio is almost gone, but influenza, the common cold, measles, and most other viruses still circulate and mutate regularly.Īndy Slavitt, the former senior COVID adviser to President Joe Biden, noted that the virus from the 1918 pandemic is still with us.Įxperts like Slavitt are talking about reaching not an end, but an equilibrium - a state of affairs in which the virus is little more than background noise, with occasional local or regional flare-ups that might require more stringent measures, like mask orders or indoor capacity limits. The fourth wave has been so depressing because we allowed ourselves to think early this summer that the roller coaster ride was over and we had beaten the virus.īut viruses are rarely eliminated. The goal - stated or not - is to beat back COVID-19 and return to normal life. ![]() We’re in the fourth wave, and politicians and the public seem to have lost patience with the mask mandates and lockdowns that provided the most effective tools to combat the virus until vaccines arrived. Our country has been stuck in a wave-by-wave policy paradigm, adjusting strategies each time the virus surges based on a blend of science and political calculation of what the public is prepared to do. But doing so can lead to less anxiety, more individual freedom, and better public policy. It’s difficult to adjust our expectations to a future of living with COVID, rather than eliminating it. It will circulate indefinitely around the globe the same way as other coronaviruses that cause the common cold.īut the idea is still shocking, because our efforts and attention remain focused on the immediate emergency. Vaccines offer strong protection against serious illness - even the delta variant.Įpidemiologists have been saying since the beginning of the pandemic that SARS-CoV-2 - the virus that causes COVID-19 - will become endemic. Unlike last year, though, a COVID-19 infection need not be a life-threatening event for most people. Here’s a statement that will seem startling: COVID is here to stay, and almost everyone will get it sooner or later.
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