COVID-19 in 2023 will be endemic but dangerous, according to Israeli experts

The pandemic of COVID-19 it will enter an endemic phase and will become part of a new global normality in 2023, anticipate Israeli experts, who urge not to let our guard down, continue with vaccination, continue investing in public health and take preventive measures.

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“It would seem that we are now entering an endemic phase, that the worst is over,” andExplains epidemiologist Hagai Levine, who chairs the Israeli Association of Public Health Physicians.

However, it warns that this new phase can be as deadly or even more deadly than the previous one.

Based on this, he adds, it is not necessary to wait for the next wave to invest in public health, and the population must maintain the preventive measures that it incorporated during the pandemic, such as personal hygiene, healthy habits and, above all, staying at home when they are sick.

This analysis is shared by Nadav Davidovitch, director of the School of Public Health at Ben Gurion University and a member of the government’s advisory committee on COVID-19 issues.

“We now live in a new normal and COVID-19 will remain with us”, points out Davidovitch, who stresses that the objective now is “control and contain” the virus intelligently based on the lessons learned.

It also suggests maintaining the use of masks during the winter, especially patients at risk, and continuing with the vaccination campaign, both against COVID-19 and against other respiratory viruses and infectious diseases.

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Regarding the application of new restrictions such as those implemented during the first two years of the pandemic, both experts urged avoiding disproportionate measures and reserving them for emergency situations, trusting that they will not be necessary due to the greater awareness of the population about measures preventive.

Another issue on which they agree for 2023 is the need to pay special attention to the more global consequences of the pandemic beyond physical health.

“The impact of the pandemic has been felt both in terms of morbidity and mortality, as well as in education, in the economy and in access to general health services,” highlights Levine, who describes 2023 as “one year of recovery” to individual and collective level.

Davidovitch, for his part, describes the “Long COVID” as one of the priorities for the coming year, referring not only to the consequences on the health of patients but also to issues such as mental health.

Source: EFE