The endemic is apparently our ticket out of the pandemic. But what does that mean?
The word “endemic” comes from ancient Greek and means something like “among the people”. It is a disease that regularly affects the population in a specific area. The number of infections is reasonably stable, but there can be seasonal waves.
We are still in the pandemic phase, in which the number of infections is subject to strong fluctuations. The virus is still unknown to our immune system and can also cause severe courses or be fatal in healthy people.
Probably the most well-known endemic disease in our country is the flu. It too has caused one or two pandemics in the past.
Such was the case with a novel influenza virus that claimed millions of victims just over a hundred years ago. The Spanish flu raged worldwide, it was spread by the soldiers in the First World War. But this pandemic also came to an end after a few years and became endemic.
This transition is mainly attributed to two factors: First, the virus mutated over time into a significantly less deadly variant. On the other hand, by the end of the pandemic, a large part of the population had become infected and developed immune protection.
Experts suspect that the same two factors – mutation and immunization – will also get us out of the Covid-19 pandemic.
They suspect that more than 90 percent of the population must have developed some form of immunity for this to happen. This immunization can be achieved in two ways: vaccination or infection.
The omicron mutation is currently leading to an increasing number of infections.
Due to its high infection rate, it spreads quickly in society and thus also increases the number of people who will soon be immunized.
Various experts therefore believe it is possible that Omikron accelerates the transition to the endemic phase.
What remains is the decision as to how this transition will be shaped. If the pandemic is prolonged with measures such as lockdowns, the infections can be spread over a longer period of time. This prevents any system failures.
Without restrictions, the end of the pandemic may be reached earlier – but avoidable deaths are the price.
An endemic condition will not mean that there will be no more corona deaths, nor is it a guarantee for harmless courses. But as a society we will probably be able to return to an everyday life that is less dictated by the pandemic.
However, variables such as new mutations, adapted vaccines and drugs make it difficult to predict exactly what this future will look like with Corona.
At most, one thing is clear: we will never get rid of this virus.