Is the Pandemic Over?
Since February of 2020, COVID-19 has eminently impacted us, completely reshaped our lifestyles, and taken a toll globally. What has felt like a never-ending burden has been something we have learned to live with and come to adapt to. Infecting 96.2 million US citizens, with 1.06 million dead, this threatening virus has had a wide reach, making it fair to say we have all been eager to see it come to an end.
However, on September 18, 2022, President Joe Biden declared the COVID-19 pandemic officially “over”. With the decrease in people wearing masks and an increase in vaccinations this is not a complete surprise. According to The New York Times, 68% of the United States is fully vaccinated, while 80% has received at least one dose. “We still have a problem with COVID. We’re still doing a lot of work on it. But the pandemic is over,” the President announced in an interview with CBS’ 60 Minutes. He continued saying, “If you notice, no one’s wearing masks. Everybody seems to be in pretty good shape. And so I think it’s changing.”
The news we have been waiting to hear for the past two and a half years comes as a relief to many, as well as a shock to others. Many public health officials are skeptical of this statement and not in agreement that the pandemic has come to an official end, calling Biden’s statement “unfortunate”. A prime example being Dr. Celine Gounder, an epidemiologist and Senior Fellow with the Kaiser Family Foundation. Commenting on the announcement, Gounder remarked, “When you have the president of the U.S. saying the pandemic is over, why would people line up for their boosters? Why would Congress allocate additional funding for these other strategies and tools? I am profoundly disappointed. I think this is a real lack of leadership.” By naming an end to the pandemic, instead of continuing to discuss possible solutions, we could be potentially unprepared for what experts are predicting as a surge of cases in the winter. According to the CDC, in the United States around 400 people are now dying every day from the Coronavirus. While this statistic is significantly less than initial rates, this by no means terminates COVID and its risks, making the “end” controversial.
However, in contrast, the World Health Organization seems to support that the pandemic could be nearing its end. Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that the world has “never been in a better position to end the pandemic”. He stated, “We are not there yet, but the end is in sight.” This could be where the real verdict lies, as the World Health Organization’s conclusion holds more influence than one leader of a country making a declaration that speaks on behalf of billions.
– Jane Goldman ’23
The Reserve Record 