Is the COVID 19 pandemic "over"?

[verdantverdure]

I just thought I'd ask.

YABU The COVID 19 pandemic IS "over."

YANBU The COVID 19 pandemic is not "over".

Well the WHO declared in May that it is, so yes, it's over. Doesn't mean that no one is going to die from it in future, because like flu it will keep mutating, but the pandemic is over.

Covid isn’t going anywhere but it’s no longer a pandemic.

WHO declared it over months ago
doesn't mean it doesn't exist any more or that vulnerable people won't die from it any more its just endemic now like Flu or chicken pox.

https://news.un.org/en/story/2023/05/1136367

It's no longer a pandemic.

It is now endemic. You missed the memo 😅

Yes. Pandemic over. A small number of people still getting covid is not a issue for national security.

To be honest I thought the WHO downgrading the "emergency" status was rather like a terrorist threat level, in that it could go up again after being stood down.

We are so completely reliant on the vaccines to keep covid damped down that all it would take would be countries getting a bit slack on vaccination or some variants that the vaccines didn't work on wouldn't it?

The pandemic is over but there will always be Covid circulating. I know 2 people with it right now.

However, vaccinations, some immunity from previous infections and known treatments mean that it's not a pandemic anymore. It's not overwhelming the health service and infecting everyone at the same time like it was when it first started.

I imagine there will be a bit of an upsurge in cases following summer holidays and schools returning, but hopefully things will stay under control.

Yes there might be new variants but don’t new variants of flu pop up all the time? And sometimes the vaccines don’t work and we end up with a bad flu year for deaths.

I imagine we will see the same with covid, but not to the extent we need any restrictions again.

It's in a lull. It'll never be eradicated and at some point it will mutate into a serious threat again, this might happen tomorrow or in a century.

The pandemic is over and covid has now become endemic.

This

The flu that people catch nowadays is a “descendant” of the Spanish flu pandemic. Viruses mutate and generally become milder. That’s what’s happened with COVID 19 - it’s likely to always be with us in some form.

I have it right now @Lindy2 and seem to know a lot of similarly ill people who haven't tested.

I looked it up this morning and my age group (40s) isn't getting a jab.

Plus we're not jabbing until October to save NHS staff hours by combining it with the Flu jab.

I guess I feel we're in a bit of an odd position.

It's "over" enough that only "the vulnerable" are getting covid jabs this autumn and apparently there's no rush.

But it's not so "over" that "the vulnerable" don't need to be jabbed against it.

The pandemic was over months ago.

However covid will remain endemic - probably forever.

Just like Spanish flu was a pandemic and it's been endemic for over 100 years.

Exactly how and the strains and it it will come and go seasonally like flu is anyone's guess because we don't have enough data.

I have it at the moment and it's absolutely floored me. It doesn't feel milder to be honest.

Its over, now get over it.

People get flu jabs every year. Seasonally.

That says nothing really about covid other than it may mutate to be seasonally problematic.

@cheezncrackers @HairsprayBabe @Normalnormal the WHO declared the emergency phase over. Not the pandemic over. In fact they expressly said governments should not let their guard down, but the UK government decided to ignore that, and dropped all mitigations and data collection so we're flying blind.

We've also learnt that for many, the acute infection phase is not the serious bit - it's the 10% of cases leading to long covid and other long term issues (heart attacks, strokes, diabetes, auto immune disease, brain damage) that we need to worry about. More people getting (re)infected = more people with long term health issues. This has serious economic consequences, not to mention social impacts.

This is why we need to continue to take airborne precautions with ventilation, air filtration, masking when sick.

You don't question flu jabs for the elderly or vulnerable though do you? That's the same as covid - an endemic, usually mild clinically, virus, which can be severe (and thus use NHS resources) amongst the elderly/clinically vulnerable so we continue to vax those who may not be able to cope with it.

@itsgettingweird don't think they are giving anyone under 65 the flu jab this year. Good luck!

sorry that was directed at @verdantverdure

I got an email to say there was a new variant circulating and to take care. But I have no idea how to check what rates are like in my area anymore, and how worried I should really be.

it would be a disaster if I caught it, but I just don’t know how worried I’m supposed to be right now. Most people are just pretending Covid isn’t a thing and has never been a thing, but pretending doesn’t make it go away.

I'm trying to get over it but it's been more than a week now.

I've no idea which variant I've got obviously but Number 5 is the snottiest and sleepiest yet. I sound like a warthog lying down.