(Newser)
– Everyone became familiar with the word “pandemic” last year. Now the Wall Street Journal reports that we will probably have to change our thinking about COVID to use “endemic”. That is, the virus can be with us in some way for years or maybe permanently, like the flu. This does not mean that draconian restrictions would also remain – a disease is endemic when it is “persistently present, but manageable,” write Daniela Hernandez and Drew Hinshaw. But it can mean long-term changes in smaller ways – a quick swab before entering a show, for example. History notes that a number of home industries are emerging to take advantage, revolving around things like rapid testing, ventilation, filters and new COVID treatments.
“Going through the five phases of mourning, we need to reach the stage of acceptance that our lives will not be the same,” said former CDC chief Thomas Frieden. “I don’t think the world has really absorbed the fact that these changes are long-term.” Meantime:
- Schools: AP reports that school administrators across the country are planning a continuation of distance learning in the fall, despite President Biden’s hopes to the contrary. On the one hand, vaccines for children are still a long way off.
- Reinfections: The daily History notes that COVID seems particularly adept at lingering in part because of the ease with which it spreads and mutates, and a separate AP story illustrates why. There is evidence that people who were once infected may not be safe from reinfection of one of the rapidly spreading variants, according to new research.
(Read more stories from COVID-19.)