The Perpetual Pandemic

 

The corona pandemic is now more than a year old. The WHO has reported more than 2 million deaths worldwide. Regardless of how it started and how it spread the question some people are asking is when we will be completely rid of it. The way this scenario has unfolded is really mind boggling. It has actually become difficult to imagine life without the corona virus. Humans of course eventually can get used to anything and any situation. So are we going to live in the shadow of this pandemic forever? It has shown itself to be adept at circumventing measures that are taken for its destruction.

It has mutated significantly in the UK, South Africa and Brazil. Some of the vaccines developed in the world are finding it difficult to prove their efficacy against the new strains. While it will help the scientists to learn more about the origins of the virus, tackling the new strains is fast becoming a priority. Data from the earlier days of the pandemic is not forthcoming.  Scientists are of the opinion that this virus is going to stay with us for a long time. Lock downs have already become a norm. The on and off policy regarding lockdowns are just government reactions to the unpredictable behavior of the virus. The world has had pandemics before this one but there is no data to analyze and draw conclusions. We are still shooting in the dark on this one.

The vaccine roll out has begun and the efficacy of the various doses made by different companies is still being studied. One ray of hope offered by most leading epidemiologists is that eventually humans will develop immunity for the virus and it will stop being as destructive as it is today. But this is only a hope. Also the time frame for this is not known. There is no precedent for this, so the answer is going to be difficult to find.

One day everyone in the world will be inoculated against the virus, but whether this will stop the virus is not known. Scientists say that we may have to live with the Corona virus for a long time. More variants of the virus are expected on a regular basis. Every year some humans on earth will be infected by this virus like any common cold or flu viruses which have been infecting humans for ages. Corona infections will be a routine in the future. Humans have to be ready for this new norm. Today it is the corona, tomorrow it could be some other virus.  The face mask and the distancing will be a permanent fixture of our social behavior.  In fact some experts are saying that we will have to forget about the way we used to live in the pre-corona days. The new norms are the new normal.  The post corona normal times have started.