Covid rubs hands together and snickers
Probably most people don’t notice the Covid case death tracker on my blog much any more. I check the Santé Québec number every couple of days but it’s only being updated a couple of times a week.
I last updated it 2 days ago to 18,221. It shows 18,294 now.
Updated vaccines for the latest Omicron variants are coming.
Update: Case numbers of long Covid continue to climb.
MarcG 21:07 on 2023-09-13 Permalink
It’s not a case tracker it’s a death tracker, which has a much darker ring to it. Ça va bien aller says what?
EmilyG 21:35 on 2023-09-13 Permalink
Tonight there was a news item about the Quartier des spectacles, and the person talked about the “first show” there “after the pandemic.”
Which made us wonder when it was that the pandemic ended, and who decided it was over.
Michael 22:31 on 2023-09-13 Permalink
Pandemic ended when majority of human population caught covid.
Now its endemic.
“Dr. Fauci. He told Reuters in November, “To me, you want to get to endemic (…) People will still get infected. People might still get hospitalized, but the level would be so low that we don’t think about it all the time and it doesn’t influence what we do.”
Kate 23:11 on 2023-09-13 Permalink
Thank you, Dr Michael. So glad to have an expert on board.
H. John 05:34 on 2023-09-14 Permalink
“As strange as it may seem, there is no single, agreed-upon definition of pandemic that all countries, public health agencies, and world leaders use.”
“Many pandemics eventually become endemic, meaning the infection is still present in a region or population but its behavior is predictable and the numbers of cases and deaths no longer spike. Learning to live with a virus is a key feature of an endemic virus; think flu or even the common cold. But it’s probably true that the transition from pandemic to endemic can only be recognized after it happens.”
And from: https://fullfact.org/health/who-covid-pandemic-over/
In May 2023 “the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared that the Covid-19 pandemic is no longer a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC)—the highest possible level of alarm that mandates countries to act under international health regulations.
The WHO said the announcement meant Covid is no longer considered an “unusual or unexpected event”, and it was widely reported as being a major step towards ending the pandemic. However the WHO did not say that the pandemic is over, contrary to some media reports.
While Mr Ghebreyesus did not explicitly address the question of whether Covid remained a pandemic in his comments, the WHO referred in a statement accompanying the announcement to the “ongoing Covid-19 pandemic”.
And
“Epidemiologists say a disease is endemic when its presence becomes steady in a particular region, or at least predictable, as with seasonal influenza. But there’s no consensus on the conditions for meeting this benchmark. By this broad definition, endemicity doesn’t necessarily mean a disease is rare or common, mild or severe. For example, infection rates can still be high; they just have to remain static. Malaria, which is endemic in dozens of countries, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa, has killed more than six hundred thousand people each year.”
The whole paper is worth a read:
https://www.cfr.org/in-brief/when-will-covid-19-become-endemic
Blork 09:07 on 2023-09-14 Permalink
Important to specify that even if the pandemic is over, that doesn’t mean Covid is over. People often use the terms interchangeably, which causes confusion and disagreement.
There are three things here:
(1) The PANDEMIC STATE OF EMERGENCY. This has been over since early this year. The EMERGENCY was declared over, not the pandemic itself. And even then, the “emergency” refers to the actions and reactions by various governments. It does not refer to how alarmed people feel or felt.
(2) The PANDEMIC. As noted above, many definitions going around. Arguably over or not over. But this isn’t the disease; the PANDEMIC is the SPREAD of the disease over a wide area. It is not the disease itself. Maybe we’ve transitioned to ENDEMIC, maybe not. Not for me to decide.
(3) COVID. This is the disease itself. This will never go away. The coronavirus and the disease it causes (Covid) are with us for good, like the flu. Covid will never be over, the way the flu will never be over.
MarcG 10:04 on 2023-09-14 Permalink
Also important to remember that endemic does not mean “do nothing about”. As mentioned, Malaria is endemic in many places yet the WHO has a big list of preventive measures which are taken. And here’s another great quote from Arijit Chakravarty: “There are many diseases that we neither have eliminated nor eradicated, but we don’t just let spread wildly. Rabies and malaria have neither been eliminated nor eradicated. But as I told you, in India, where I grew up nobody took the attitude of letting malaria rip through. We had mosquito nets, we sprayed things as much as we could. We would never let water gather anywhere. People were absolutely on top of malaria. If anybody had it, it was straight to getting quinine. There was a strong desire to see less malaria. It would’ve been insane not to have taken that point of view.”
EmilyG 11:16 on 2023-09-14 Permalink
Thank you, all.
I’m thinking that maybe I was unsure about the pandemic being over, because I’m still a Covid-virgin (one of the few that I know.)
steph 12:27 on 2023-09-14 Permalink
This is purly anecdotal but, my older sibbling talked to her doctor about newly developed fatigue my sibbling – he was diagnoised with long-covid. I talked to my doctor about my newly developed fatigue as well – my doctor said I was just getting older.
Blork 12:53 on 2023-09-14 Permalink
All thumbs up on MarcG’s comment, above. “Endemic” doesn’t mean “ignore” or “no longer a problem.”
EmilyG, I’m a viddy virgin too!
jeather 14:28 on 2023-09-14 Permalink
@steph is your older sibling male and are you female?
I’m also free of covid so far.
Tee Owe 14:30 on 2023-09-14 Permalink
Totally agree that malaria is a pertinent comparison BUT one difference to keep in mind is that we have Covid vaccines whereas we do not have a malaria vaccine (yet) – not to diminish the comments from MarcG and H John, which I too applaud
jeather 16:07 on 2023-09-14 Permalink
There are two malaria vaccines currently.
MarcG 16:08 on 2023-09-14 Permalink
According to that WHO page there is a vaccine for malaria: “Since October 2021, WHO recommends broad use of the RTS,S/AS01 malaria vaccine among children living in regions with moderate to high P. falciparum malaria transmission.” It seems to have the same limitations as the Covid vaccines: rapid waning of protective immunity and so-so percentages at keeping you from being infected or very sick but surely better than nothing. I doubt that countries with access to the vaccine will declare Malaria Is Over and stop using their mosquito nets.
jeather 16:39 on 2023-09-14 Permalink
The second vaccine just came out a few months ago, and is likely to be better, but yes, they will also continue to work on prevention.
Tee Owe 02:07 on 2023-09-15 Permalink
I stand corrected, thanks – I did my scientific training in the pre-vaccine era and I guess I am influenced by that, haven’t kept up – agree with MarcG that mosquito nets etc will remain necessary – analogies with Covid (masks etc)?