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Comment by monkeynotes | Hacker News Reader

Let's not forget COVID is not done yet. We've had two years of restrictions and now it seems like folks are behaving as if it's over. Mutations are propagating and yet most people are out and about without masks and the dialog around vaccines has all but dried up.

The ongoing confusion about what this disease's risk factor is worrisome. First I think people have much more distrust in science and government. There is still a deep divide amongst the population and I am concerned about how we will handle another wave of restrictions whilst the economy buckles and a global war is on the horizon.

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COVID is endemic, which is functionally equivalent to 'over'. Just as there are bad flu seasons, there will likely be bad COVID seasons, but overall Africa has blessed the whole world with a relatively benign and incredibly infectious variant that keeps immune systems attuned without crashing. We have overwhelming returned to normal behavior around illness, which preferentially propagates mild pathogens by only stranding really sick people at home (where they don't spread things), while the rest of us go around unknowingly sharing our mildly inconvenient Omicron and omicron++ with one another.

I'm out and about without wearing a mask because the numbers of deaths per day due to covid in my state has dropped down to single digit numbers and the number of current cases is currently 1/30 of where it was at it's peak. Should those numbers start going back up, I'll start taking more precautions. We have to start living life again where we are able to or a series of economic woes will become the new normal instead of a single correction due to the pandemic.

In my neck of the woods, there would need to be a serious new threat to motivate people back into school closings and lockdowns. Heck, we're still below 60% fully vaccinated and only 30% have received any boosters. My states's population is done with COVID, even if COVID isn't done with us.

That said, SARS-CoV-2 is endemic now, with known animal reservoirs. We're not going to stop it with NPIs anymore.

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