Interesting article, but it could be that the reason the cases never end (but fortunately decline) and why so many variants exist is that Coronavirus’s have been doing that since at least 1889. CNN should get rid of the purple spiked ball toy and do a Since 1889 logo such as the one usually seen on fine whiskey bottles.
He says that the foothold of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in the human population today means it is likely to follow a similar pattern and become a continuously circulating, or ‘endemic’ virus, joining four other human coronaviruses that infect people with common cold symptoms.
ec.europa.eu
“What has happened to the virus that likely caused this 19th century pandemic?
OC43 is still around. It is now responsible for common colds, albeit the more severe common colds. And probably in some elderly people it can lead to severe illnesses. We might want to look more for OC43 in weird pneumonias in the elderly. This is because before last year, if an elderly person had pneumonia, only in a university hospital would they have been tested for OC43. A person could have been sick from it in intensive care in a local hospital but they would never know.”
One of the best things about Covid-19 is that most of the population participated in, and the Government wasn’t allowed to completely delay (like they do with most medical research as regulators) a vaccination program. We will never fully know the differences between life with vaccinations versus no vaccinations for Covid. My personal opinion is that they prolonged a great number of lives. If others disagree, their opinions should not be silenced.
No one gives a shit now if the Russian Flu killed off 0.2 or 0.5 percent of the population. And a hundred years from now no one will give a shit if Covid 19 killed off 0.2 or 0.4 percent of the population. The media wasn’t as dramatic in 1889. That is the only area of life where things have gone backward. That, and of course the government’s ability to force the population to obey orders as a result of the existence of a Pandemic, and to detain them as a result of a positive medical test they are required to take, particularly when traveling.