"Nature" is my preferred free-access source for news and articles on developments in science and technology. Its reporting throughout the pandemic has been very reliable and professional.
Its most recent editorial addresses realistic expectations for the near future with regards the pandemic, and makes a short and interesting read. The bottom line is that the virus will not be eradicated and that we all will have to adapt to living with it.
I guess that means another year of guessing for travelers....
From the article :
"But what is clear is that the hope that vaccines and prior infection could generate herd immunity to COVID-19 — an unlikely possibility from the start — has all but disappeared. It is widely thought that SARS-CoV-2 will become endemic rather than extinct, with vaccines providing protection from severe disease and death, but not eradicating the virus....
Meanwhile, new antiviral drugs, formulated in tablets that can be easily administered early in the course of infection to reduce the chance of serious disease and death, offer another approach against COVID-19....
All of these will expand the world’s capacity to manage SARS-CoV-2 outbreaks. They are cause for hope and optimism, but with a hefty dose of realism: the virus will continue to circulate and change, and governments must continue to rely on the guidance and advice of scientists. We will not always be able to predict the virus’s path, and we must be ready to adapt with it."
Its most recent editorial addresses realistic expectations for the near future with regards the pandemic, and makes a short and interesting read. The bottom line is that the virus will not be eradicated and that we all will have to adapt to living with it.
I guess that means another year of guessing for travelers....
From the article :
"But what is clear is that the hope that vaccines and prior infection could generate herd immunity to COVID-19 — an unlikely possibility from the start — has all but disappeared. It is widely thought that SARS-CoV-2 will become endemic rather than extinct, with vaccines providing protection from severe disease and death, but not eradicating the virus....
Meanwhile, new antiviral drugs, formulated in tablets that can be easily administered early in the course of infection to reduce the chance of serious disease and death, offer another approach against COVID-19....
All of these will expand the world’s capacity to manage SARS-CoV-2 outbreaks. They are cause for hope and optimism, but with a hefty dose of realism: the virus will continue to circulate and change, and governments must continue to rely on the guidance and advice of scientists. We will not always be able to predict the virus’s path, and we must be ready to adapt with it."
COVID is here to stay: countries must decide how to adapt
The Omicron variant has laid bare the need to live with a disease that throws up an ever-changing set of challenges.
www.nature.com