Dear Amy: I have noticed that in many of the discussions about COVID-19, you and others have said things like, "When this is over, we can get together." Or, "When we reach the end of the virus, life will return to normal."
We are now nearly two years into what we were told would be two months. When is everyone going to realize that this virus is never going away?
I'm completely isolated from the world — except for the internet. I would love to get out like I did prior to the pandemic, but I don't see this ever ending.
Why keep people's hopes up and not prepare them for what could be forever?
Amy say: Yes, the end seems to be receding into the distance with every passing complication, but the reason to keep people's hopes up is because the pandemic certainly will end, just as the pandemics that came before it also eventually transitioned to less crucial stages.
Which is not to say that the virus is going away. But the pandemic will shift into endemic status, and the virus causing COVID-19 will become one of many viruses for which vaccinations, medications and remedies treating symptoms will help people to cope with it.
According to the World Health Organization, the only viral disease we have ever totally eradicated is smallpox, which had been kicking around the planet for thousands of years. Now, the only remaining smallpox pathogens exist in laboratories.
Viruses causing other pandemics and epidemics — including polio — still exist, but we live with them, mitigating the risks.