Little Things that Matter Your LIFE: The Coronavirus Brief: Is the pandemic really over?

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Monday, September 19, 2022

Is the Pandemic Really Over?

BY JAMIE DUCHARME

More than 3 million COVID-19 cases and 11,000 deaths were reported worldwide during the week ending Sept. 11. In the U.S. alone, around 400 people die from the virus every day—even at a time when most of the population is vaccinated, previously infected, or both. Millions of people continue to develop or suffer from Long COVID symptoms.

And yet President Joe Biden yesterday declared the pandemic over.

“The pandemic is over. We still have a problem with COVID. We’re still doing a lot of work on it,” Biden said in a 60 Minutes interview. “But the pandemic is over.”

Biden’s comments were reportedly unplanned, surprising even his own health officials—and potentially making it harder for them to secure more funding for viral response. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recently renewed the pandemic’s public-health emergency status through at least mid-October.

The World Health Organization (WHO) also still considers COVID-19 a public-health emergency of international concern (PHEIC), though Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus made cautiously optimistic comments last week. “We have never been in a better position to end the pandemic,” he said. But, he continued, we are “not there yet.”

“Ending” a pandemic is a tricky thing. Experts don’t uniformly agree on what that means or when it’s accurate to consider the virus endemic, a routine rather than urgent part of the public-health landscape. Even the WHO doesn’t technically declare something a pandemic ; the agency uses the PHEIC designation instead. So there may never be a clear, objective point at which the pandemic is over.

Many people have been living as though it is for months already, anyway. As of May, a third of U.S. adults said the pandemic was over and about 80% said their lives were at least somewhat back to normal, according to Gallup research. Biden’s comments likely only cement those feelings.

But for people who are living with Long COVID, at high risk of severe disease, caring for COVID-19 patients, or grieving any of the millions of people who have been lost to the virus, his remarks may be a bitter pill to swallow.

TODAY'S CORONAVIRUS OUTLOOK

More than 611.9 million people around the world had been diagnosed with COVID-19 as of 1:30 am. E.T. today, and more than 6.5 million people have died. On Sept. 18, there were 252,818 new cases and 509 new deaths confirmed globally.

Here's how the world as a whole is currently trending, in terms of cases:

And in terms of deaths:

Here's where daily cases have risen or fallen over the last 14 days, shown in confirmed cases per 100,000 residents:

And here's every country that has reported over 10 million cases:

The U.S. had recorded more than 95.6 million coronavirus cases as of 1:30 am. E.T. today. More than 1.05 million people have died. On Sept. 18, there were 4,710 new cases reported in the U.S., and 7 deaths were confirmed.

Here's how the country as a whole is currently trending in terms of cases:

And in terms of deaths:

Here's where daily cases have risen or fallen over the last 14 days, shown in confirmed cases per 100,000 residents:

All numbers unless otherwise specified are from the Johns Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering, and are accurate as of Sept. 19. To see larger, interactive versions of these maps and charts, click here.

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WHAT ELSE YOU SHOULD KNOW

Experts knew it could be difficult to convince parents to get their young kids vaccinated against COVID-19, given vaccine hesitancy and low rates of severe illness among children. But, as the Washington Post reports, vaccination rates among the country’s youngest children are even more dismal than expected. In some states, less than 0.2% of kids younger than 5 have gotten their shots since they were authorized in June. Nationwide, only about 325,000 young children are fully vaccinated—a worryingly small number, given how widely the virus continues to spread and the chances it will continue to mutate.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends getting both an Omicron booster and a flu shot this fall. But should you get your COVID-19 booster and your flu shot at the same time? There’s disagreement in the medical community, with some experts saying yes and others arguing it’s smart to get your COVID-19 shot first and your flu jab later in the fall to maximize protection. Here’s what to know.

A bus transporting passengers to a quarantine facility in China crashed early yesterday morning, killing at least 27 people—and sparking new fury over the country’s aggressive virus mitigation practices. In the aftermath of the accident, some took to social media to criticize the government’s containment measures. "My mom stayed at home for half a month. She didn't go anywhere apart from going out for PCR tests...but she suddenly got taken to quarantine and died,” a woman describing herself as the daughter of one of the crash victims posted online.

Thanks for reading. We hope you find the Coronavirus Brief newsletter to be a helpful tool to navigate this very complex situation, and welcome feedback at coronavirus.brief@time.com. If you have specific questions you'd like us to answer, please send them to covidquestions@time.com.

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Today's newsletter was written by Jamie Ducharme and edited by Angela Haupt.