Will this ever end????

"Historians will write many, many books on this virus. How it came to be. How we dealt with it. The fear mongering it caused. And the best part - how it ended." 

Over the weekend, I listened to a respected medical professional talk about today's landscape - as it pertains to the China virus. He said something (which he thought), was very profound. "In six months, this pandemic will have either run its course, and we can return to what we believe to be normal. Or, there will be an new variant which cause this disease to last longer." Hmm. That is like a weather guesser who predicts it will either rain or we will have sunshine tomorrow.

Big whoop. I will believe this thing is over, when I don't hear EVERYONE on the news talk about it. The Israelis however, have a different spin. They are already giving out the SECOND booster, and are now saying that is not enough. Say what?? They are studying samples from people who have had both boosters, and the antibodies produced were not enough to protect against the Omicron variant. Thus - that is the reason why so many "break through" cases are happening right now. 

Here is the question which now begs to be asked. And I dare say, this might be following the science. We have recently heard from the CDC that most masks are worthless in protecting someone for a long period of time. Some cloth masks are little better than wearing nothing. Now we are hearing the same thing we heard at the beginning of this China virus. Only then, we were asked not to buy a N95 mask - even though that was the one which really worked. Why? Shortages. We needed those masks for the medical professionals. So we were stuck being mandated to wear masks which did little or no good. Today? The guidance should be this - wear an N95 if you have one. If not, you don't need to wear any mask - that is, unless you want to.

With today's variant making the vaccine we took almost obsolete, the "vaccine passport" cards should be a thing of the past. Again, the guidance should be to get vaccinated and boosted, only if you want to. If not, your choice. No mandates, just suggestions. 

One word of caution however. Even with the Omicron variant, this virus can make you sicker than a dog for over a week. Or - it can barely touch you. More and more medical professionals are now thinking this virus is soon to be endemic. That means, annual protection will end up being the flu shot. And like the flu shot, the depth of your protection will be hit or miss. We will just be living with it. 

When will this end? When we allow it to end. When we tell it to end. When we just learn to live with it. Some might ask, has any good come out of this virus? My answer would be yes. We have learned better self protection by taking vitamins C, D3 and zinc. To stay home more when you are sick. To cover your mouth better, when sneezing or coughing. To shake hands less. To wash hands more. 

Historians will write many, many books on this virus. How it came to be. How we dealt with it. The fear mongering it caused. And the best part - how it ended.