WHO Chief Says COVID-19 Pandemic ‘End Is in Sight’—but It’s Not Here Yet
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The Chief of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, M.D., said Wednesday that the end of the COVID-19 pandemic “is in sight.”
Though Dr. Ghebreyesus noted that “we are not there yet,” and that countries need to try to increase vaccination and testing rates to get to the finish line.
Experts note that this does not mean the virus is going away, but rather turning into an endemic.
For more than two years, the COVID-19 pandemic has overshadowed daily life. Now, there’s finally some good news: The end of the pandemic is in sight.
That’s the word from Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, M.D., the chief of the World Health Organization (WHO). On Wednesday, Dr. Ghebreyesus said in a virtual press conference that “we are not there yet. But the end is in sight.”
Dr. Ghebreyesus compared the fight against COVID-19 to a marathon and urged people to keep going. “Now is the time to run harder and make sure we cross the line and reap the rewards of all our hard work,” he said, before encouraging countries to try to increase vaccination and testing rates for the virus.
But WHO senior epidemiologist Maria Van Kerkhove, Ph.D., warned that this doesn’t mean COVID-19 is going away. “We expect there to be future waves of infections, potentially at different time points throughout the world caused by different subvariants of Omicron or even different variants of concern," she said.
It’s easy to confuse this messaging and assume that we’re done with COVID-19, but experts warn that’s definitely not the case. Ahead, experts share what you need to know, now and going forward.
Why does WHO say the end of the pandemic is in sight?
The speculation that the pandemic is ending is “based on the fact that cases are falling and the number of people who have been immunized and had prior infection from COVID is building,” says Thomas Russo, M.D., professor and chief of infectious disease at the University at Buffalo in New York. “But the virus is not going to disappear,” he says.
As someone who has lived through a pandemic, you probably have at least some idea of what the word means—but the definition matters. A pandemic is an event that happens where a disease spreads across several countries and impacts a large number of people, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) explains. The WHO declared in March 2020 that COVID-19 was a global pandemic.
COVID-19 is shifting into what’s known as an endemic illness, which means that it’s around at a fairly stable, predictable rate in a group of people, and that the number of cases that happen are around what’s expected.
Is COVID-19 still a threat?
“Things are clearly getting better,” says Martin J. Blaser, M.D., professor and director of the Center for Advanced Biotechnology and Medicine at Rutgers University, noting that “0% of people had any immunity” to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, in 2019. Now, he points out, “a high percent of the population has at least partial immunity—this mitigates the severity of the infection, and is widespread.”
But William Schaffner, M.D., an infectious disease specialist and professor at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, says he’s “concerned” Dr. Ghebreyesus’ comments will be misinterpreted. “I’m concerned people will see this and really think COVID is over and not be motivated to get vaccinated or boosted,” he says. “We’re well into the transition from pandemic to endemic, but this does not mean we have zero COVID cases.”
“I’m worried about the messaging,” Dr. Russo agrees. “People will interpret this as ‘we’re done with COVID, it’s all good, carry on with your life,’ but that’s not the case.”
What will happen when COVID-19 is no longer a pandemic?
It’s not entirely clear and there are a lot of unanswered questions. “Will it become seasonal, like influenza, where there’s a six-month time frame for cases, or will it tend to percolate year-round with these spikes that depend on where you’re geographically located?” Dr. Russo says. “Regardless, it will still be there and continue to infect people.”
That, Dr. Schaffner says, is why it’s so crucial for people to continue to get vaccinated and boosted—including with the bivalent COVID-19 booster—to protect themselves against COVID-19. “We need to keep our guard up,” he says.
Dr. Schaffner says isolation guidelines may change with time and eventually even go away. “I think recommendations will become like they are with influenza,” he says. Meaning, you won’t need to isolate when you have COVID-19 in the future, but health experts may instead recommend that you use good judgment and mask up when you’re infectious.
But Dr. Russo says the pandemic may change our thinking on the flu, too. “We’ve been very laissez-faire with flu,” he says. “I’m hoping that we’ll learn that people should use good judgment. If you’re sick, stay home. If you have symptoms, get tested.” The hope, he says, is that “we can evolve with people adopting public health measures to help break that transmission chain.”
Dr. Blaser says that behavior has already changed, though. In the future, he expects that “people will be wearing masks more, staying home from work if sick, and there may be less hugging of strangers.” He also expects remote work options to continue. “The workplace has changed,” he says.
Overall, experts stress the importance of doing what you can to lower your risk of getting seriously ill if you happen to get COVID-19—i.e. get vaccinated and continue to stay up to date on your COVID-19 vaccines. “We’re doing a lot better,” Dr. Russo says. “But we need to continue to go in the right direction.”
This article is accurate as of press time. However, as the COVID-19 pandemic rapidly evolves and the scientific community’s understanding of the novel coronavirus develops, some of the information may have changed since it was last updated. While we aim to keep all of our stories up to date, please visit online resources provided by the CDC, WHO, and your local public health department to stay informed on the latest news. Always talk to your doctor for professional medical advice.
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