Is COVID-19 reaching the endemic stage? [View all]

https://www.umassmed.edu/news/news-archives/2022/08/is-covid-19-reaching-the-endemic-stage-umass-chan-virologist-jeremy-luban-weighs-in/

"Now, as we approach the fall, we are in a different place. Many more people have developed a level of anti-SARS-CoV-2 immunity, from vaccination and/or infection. We’ve learned that boosters have an important role to play in terms of protecting against severe disease, though there are still big proportions of the population that haven’t been boosted."

"But it’s possible that this coming fall is going to be the first relatively normal period for us since the beginning of the pandemic. It may be the beginning of the real endemic phase for us, where most people who get infection have a common cold. But we don’t know that with any certainty, and with SARS-CoV-2 we have to be prepared for the worst."

"Another question concerns the long-term effects of SARS-CoV-2 infection. There are many indications that SARS-CoV-2 can have long-term effects on people’s health, sometimes called long COVID. We know little about these long-term effects and this is a very important area of research."