Is the pandemic over for good?

[Ashleighz88]

Is the pandemic finally over for good? I really can't see it getting worse again now Or am I naive?

Nope. The pandemic is not over. The current common variant is less lethal, which is good. But it's been let rip through the population, which increases the odds of further mutations. Which may not be less lethal.

Ah really? I thought that the more people that caught it the better herd immunity and less chance to mutate. Clearly I've misunderstood. So there's a chance another variant could arise that's more severe?

Better herd immunity = fewer people catch the next variant. Lots of people with virus in them now = more opportunities for a new variant to arise. It mutates inside people.

@NAndJIsStayingAtHome meaning?

@nocoolnamesleft thanks for the explanation,

@NAndJIsStayingAtHome I asked if people THINK it's over, I never said it was or wasn't! Just say no if you think it's a no, or say nothing and go away!

Nah it’s not over. Fun days.

But isn't the message now - get back to the office and live life like we did pre-covid?

Huh? I thought we were currently going through the worst part of the pandemic globally.
Herd immunity does not work with viruses like this because people can catch it more than once.
More people getting infected, means more viral replication, which means more mutations as they are an inevitable part of the replication process.
Hopefully this virus will reduce in severity with each mutation, which is what usually happens with viruses, but it’s impossible to predict.

As someone who currently has covid I do not feel like it’s over

Omicron BA.2 is already in Denmark, England, the USA and Australia.

This was always on the cards, and it's early days, but governments are understandably paying attention to it.

So to answer your question OP, no, the pandemic isn't over.

160,000 cases daily.
Up 11% from last week.
Re-infections at 7%.

Yes, of course it’s over 🙄

MN is the worst place to ask anything about Covid now.

Not sure why we're being directed to old threads as OP is talking about how things stand today. Not a time to be looking backwards.

I feel things are moving in the right direction, not over by any means though. Some of the restrictions are being lifted and it'll be interesting to see where we're going re testing going forward.

Op globally technically not quite, but yes this is the end of it now. Who will change classification shortly.

What makes you think that ?

It is apparently over in England. Which may or not come under the "let's cover up all the dodgy shit going on by telling the plebs they don't need masks or tests if they go to Lanzarote" section of What Boris Did Today.

It's still a pandemic, cases in many countries have never been higher. Cases in England are falling slightly because by removing many sensible mitigations earlier than other countries the peak of this wave came earlier.

What is true is that thanks to the vaccination programme and the less severe nature of Omicron, fewer people are hospitalised and dying.

Hopefully, that will be the case for subsequent variants.

Its not over.wait for next winter and we will see the same problems with a mutation of the virus.Until the whole world is vaxed,we will repeat the ciycle over and over again.

Is it over? No! It’ll never really be over because it’s here to stay forever.

Are people giving less of a fuck now and adjusting to this “new normal”. Yes.

Just get on and enjoy life. Things are more or less back to normal. Bodies still aren’t (and never have been) piling up in the streets, and that’s something to be thankful for.

No the pandemic is not over. Virus is here to stay along side us in its various forms. I do not believe it will be eradicated. Only time will tell if the next variant will be a more deadly one. The current omicron BA.1 and BA.2 variants are considered to be a mild form but we don't know what the next variant will be capable of. Only time will tell if it becomes weaker over time

None of us has a crystal ball but....

• Looking at history, epidemics seldom last more than 2 years.
• In UK/US/Europe, vaccination levels are fairly high
• A good proportion of the population has already caught covid and therefore has some natural immunity
• the current variant is generally causing less severe illness

So, no, it isn't over but personally I think it'll move to an endemic stage, where it's low level but circulating permanently. We'll learn to live with it. There will be a periodic updated vaccine as with flu.