TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — With COVID-19 cases again declining after the omicron surge, some experts are saying the much-anticipated end of the pandemic may be in sight.
“It’s going to be a lot like how we deal with the flu,” said Dr. Thomas Unnasch, distinguished health professor at the University of South Florida College of Public Health.
COVID-19, which is currently in the pandemic stage, could soon move into the endemic stage, according to Dr. Unnasch.
“I think we are going to be moving, maybe not right now but I think within two months, we’ll be exactly at that point,” said Dr. Unnasch.
Dr. Unnasch admited variants have toppled his predictions before.
“We had the delta variant come through and I was pretty confident after the delta variant we’d reach herd immunity. Now with the omicron variant, I’m really lost in making predictions on what this virus is going to do,” he said.
Still, he foresees a day, by summer or fall, when COVID-19 would be handled like the flu.
“You’re going to go to your urgent care center and they’re gonna run a rapid flu test and a rapid COVID test. If the COVID test comes up positive, you’re going to get a prescription for Paxlovid. You’ll go to the pharmacy, you’ll take the pills and in 3 or 4 days you’ll be feeling better,” Dr. Unnasch said.
A disease is in its endemic stage when it is still present in the population but does not disrupt society.
“We’re still at a really high level of hospitalizations and daily deaths but there’s going to be a rapid decline from that. We’re rapidly approaching the definition of what an endemic respiratory disease looks like,” Dr. Vin Gupta told NBC News.
White House chief medical advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci said the goal is not eradicating COVID-19 because that is not possible.
Instead, it is having enough exposure, vaccinations and boosters to get levels under control.
“Either through infection plus boosting, either vaccine plus boosting, or just vaccine alone — those are the things that will hopefully get us to the point when we have antivirals to be able to treat people who are at high risk — that we no longer are in a situation of threat — threat to our equanimity, threat to our economy, the threat to allow us to live a normal life,” said Dr. Fauci during a recent COVID briefing.
In the end, Dr. Unnasch used a Jurassic Park quote, “life will find a way,” to say the virus may persist.
But, he said, humanity may finally have an answer for it.
“With the drugs that we have now and the rapid testing, I’ll think we’ll be in a much better position to deal with any other outbreak or variant that comes along that we have been up until now,” Dr. Unnasch said.
