An “endemic” coronavirus, which no longer paralyzes societies, is possible, indicated the main epidemiological adviser to the US Government.
The main epidemiological adviser to the US Government, Anthony Fauci, expressed his hope in Davos on Monday that the coronavirus will lose its lethality and ability to cause serious cases, although, like other experts who participated in the debate, he asked the world to stay alert.
An “endemic” coronavirus, which no longer paralyzes societies, is possible, but “this will only happen if new variants do not appear that elude the immunity of previous strains,” Fauci stressed in a virtual debate held by the Davos Forum on the evolution of the pandemic.
The also director of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases ruled out the possibility that COVID-19 will be totally eradicated, “something that has only happened once in the history of infections, with smallpox.”
Instead, Fauci considered as a possible scenario, although not yet certain, that the coronavirus can be “controlled” to the extent that it does not produce great alterations in social life, as occurs with seasonal waves of flu and other respiratory diseases.
Annelies Wilder-Smith, professor of emerging communicable diseases at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, agreed that it is too early to downgrade COVID-19 from “pandemic” to “endemic”.
“It is very likely that new variants of the coronavirus will emerge, the question is whether they will be more or less dangerous,” he said in the session dedicated to the pandemic at the Davos Forum, which is holding conferences in virtual format this week due to the current wave of infections. linked to the omicron variant.
“Based on the evolutionary advantages of a virus, it is most likely to be attenuated and associated with less severe cases (…) since it is in its best interest to be more contagious without causing the death of the host organism,” the expert explained.
Despite this, “the world must be prepared for the worst possible scenario, even if it is not the most probable”, in the sense that a new highly contagious and highly lethal variant may emerge. (I)
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