COVID remains a global emergency, the World Health Organization says, but we’re at a transition point. What does this mean?

Tue, 14 Feb 2023 10:33:27 +1100

Andrew Pam <xanni [at] glasswings.com.au>

Andrew Pam
<https://theconversation.com/covid-remains-a-global-emergency-the-world-health-organization-says-but-were-at-a-transition-point-what-does-this-mean-198876>

"As we enter the fourth year of living with COVID, we are all asking the
predictable question: when will the pandemic be over?

To answer this question, it’s worth reminding ourselves that a pandemic
involves the worldwide spread of a disease that requires an emergency response
at a global level.

This week, World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom
Ghebreyesus declared COVID continues to be a public health emergency of
international concern.

As Ghebreyesus notes, we still face significant challenges, with high rates of
transmission in many countries, the risk of a game-changing new variant
ever-present, and an unknown impact of long COVID.

Yet COVID pandemic “fatigue” means it’s harder to reach people with public
health messaging, while misinformation continues to circulate. In addition,
many countries have deprioritised COVID testing and surveillance, so we don’t
have accurate data about the extent of transmission.

But while we’re still in the emergency phase of our COVID response, three years
after the original declaration, the WHO also acknowledged we’re at a transition
point. This means we’re moving towards the “disease control” phase of our
response to COVID and learning to live with the virus."

Cheers,
       *** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net               Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/                 Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/            Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/               Manager, Serious Cybernetics

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