European policymakers are increasingly treating COVID-19 as an endemic disease that citizens must learn to live with.
Earlier ambitions of eradicating the virus appear to have been abandoned, as shaky economies and a restless public demand a return to normalcy despite the roaring new wave of illnesses.
As the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention explains, endemic "refers to the constant presence and/or usual prevalence of a disease or infectious agent in a population within a geographic area."
The endemic level of disease in a certain area is essentially the disease's baseline in that location. The CDC stresses that this isn't always the ideal level of sickness. Even if a disease is endemic, it might still be quite prevalent.
The high vaccination rate in Europe has halted the alarming trend of COVID-19-related mortality soaring alongside new cases every day. Despite the fact that there have been record numbers of illnesses, the number of deaths associated with them has remained largely consistent. While vaccinations have not been successful in preventing infections, they do appear to be beneficial in reducing the number of people who die as a result of the variants that are now in circulation.
As a result, despite a COVID-19 outbreak that has infected over 9 million Europeans in the last week, governments are considering lifting restrictions and creating a new normal in which COVID-19 is treated in the same way as the flu and other endemic diseases.
Britain, France, Ireland, the Netherlands, and Spain are all pushing to relax restrictions while reporting high numbers of cases as part of the largest global COVID-19 increase since the virus's discovery.
Many scientists worry, however, that this method appears to prioritize economic objectives and populist demands over scientific agreement. The World Health Organization has cautioned that the pandemic is far from over, claiming that underestimating the virus might result in new, more severe variants as well as a potentially disastrous impact on countries with poor vaccination rates.
The virus appears to have forced governments all across the world to make two painful decisions. A country can either strive to return to a "new normal" and allow new infections, or it can adopt China's "zero-covid" strategy, which prioritizes economic performance over eradicating all remaining cases of the virus.
With most nations facing economic difficulties after nearly two years of crisis, European politicians appear to have chosen to try to live with the virus, hoping that new strains won't jeopardize a short-term economic recovery.
While transitioning from our present pandemic to an endemic condition sounds like a step in the right direction, health experts warn that it does not always mean what people think it does. It is unquestionably not the "normal" reality that humans experienced prior to 2019. Our journey to endemicity is also not straightforward.
