In the early days of the COVID pandemic, the term “the new normal” became a popular way to describe the sudden shift to living in confinement, putting a mask on your face to leave the house and rubbing your hands constantly. People hoped that one day we would leave this new normal behind and go back to the normal we knew – living life without any consideration for the coronavirus. While this may have seemed realistic at one point, the White House COVID consultant Anthony Fauci, MD, now has a different expectation of what “normal” will look like. Read on to see what Fauci thinks about the post-pandemic future and for more speculation about the coming years of our lives, Moderna’s CEO has just made this scary prediction about COVID.
During an interview with The Hill on January 27, Fauci made it clear that we would never be able to get our minds off COVID entirely. “If normal means not paying attention to anything, we will never go back to normal,” he said. “For me, that would be abnormal, because from now on, we have to be constantly vigilant.”
Society will not be able to ignore COVID completely, largely because the virus will remain a threat. And it is something that researchers and doctors must be well aware of. “This for me is the new normal – constant surveillance,” added Fauci. And for the most up-to-date information, subscribe to our daily newsletter.
Fauci pointed out that the virus continues to evolve, which may require adjustments in treatments and vaccines. “We have to be prepared for this to be an elusive virus, that we will have to make some changes to our interventions, whatever they may be,” he said. Fauci cited the potential for an improved vaccine or different treatments with monoclonal antibodies in the future.
Since we started seeing this coronavirus, it has mutated several times. Some mutations were benign, while others proved to be more difficult to contain. Recent research has found that the vaccine is somewhat less effective against the South African strain of COVID. In response, experts began to work on an additional reinforcement dose that would close the protection gap. Adjustments like this may be necessary in the coming years, as the virus continues to evolve. And to learn more about the future of the pandemic, COVID researchers have just released their darkest forecast for 2021 to date.
Fauci’s warning words were not all bleak – he also assured listeners that there was hope. “There is light at the end of the tunnel,” said Fauci. “We will begin to approach some degree of normality as we enter late autumn this year, as we enter winter.”
At the same time, the infectious disease specialist was careful to moderate his optimistic words with another dose of reality. “We have to keep our eyes and our pressure on him. Otherwise, he can escape us,” he added. And for a memorable moment from last year, Dr. Fauci Said Hearing These 5 Words About COVID Made You Cry.
CNBC reported that during a panel discussion at the JPMorgan Healthcare Conference on January 13, the CEO of Moderna Stéphane Bancel shared his predictions about the future of COVID. “SARS-CoV-2 is not going to go away,” said Bancel. “We are going to live with this virus, we think, forever.” The formal word for this is “endemic”, which means that the virus is always present, circulating at low levels all the time, but only occasionally causing serious illness. And for more news about coronavirus, this over-the-counter drug can kill COVID, the study says.