Experts claim there is no turning back to what was previously deemed normal before the virus arose, two years after the World Health Organization (WHO) initially declared COVID-19 a worldwide pandemic on March 11, 2020.
Infectious disease specialist Dr. Isaac Bogoch reminded us recently that although governments are easing public health restrictions, it’s wise to note that the epidemic is far from finished and that new varieties may emerge in the future. Although the last Omicron surge was awful, Bogoch said the nation is “n a lot better condition at the moment compared to a month or two ago, when the hospitals were filled.
Nevertheless, since more individuals were infected with the virus throughout this wave compared to any preceding one, Bogoch is optimistic that future waves will not create as many disturbances to everyday life as prior ones did, thanks to greater community immunity.
Bogoch said that learning to live with COVID around us might imply various things to different individuals.
He believes that to some individuals, it means burying their heads in the ground and pretending that this virus doesn’t exist and that we’re still in the year 2018 or 2019. According to Bogoch, the previous two years have demonstrated that this is not achievable.
Living with COVID-19, he said, meant having the resources in place to effectively control future waves of illnesses from a public health standpoint, with little disruption to normal life.
How to live with the virus?
The creation of safer indoor areas with adequate air filtration, the allocation of funds to those areas that are disparately affected, such as lower-income and racially biased neighborhoods, the expansion of healthcare access, the establishment of equity in access to therapeutic approaches, the recognition that there are disadvantaged people who may become seriously ill, and the continuation of vaccination efforts are all examples of what he described.
