https://www.cnbc.com/2022/02/04/harvard-medical-professor-says-its-time-to-move-on-from-pandemic-.html

"Many reasoned, outspoken and honest scientists have been making the point that Covid-19 is moving rapidly from a 'pandemic' … to an 'endemic' respiratory infection comparable to the common cold and flu,"

  • Wheaties [she/her]
    ·
    3 years ago

    Maybe I'm wornf about this but

    Epidemic/Pandemic means exponential case growth, which so far describes every variant of COVID-19 we've seen.

    Endemic means the growth rate is linear or lower (like colds, or the flu in most instances). COVID & Friends straight up don't meet the criteria for "endemic", and there's been no indication to suggest that's gonna change. Diseases don't just "become endemic" after some arbitrary amount of time passes. Smallpox spread as an epidemic right up until it was eliminated.