Lex Ennis ‘23
In a 60 Minutes interview on CBS, President Biden declared that the COVID-19 pandemic is officially “over.”
The 60 Minutes interview featuring President Biden was taped at a Detroit Auto Show last week. The President states “we still have a problem with COVID. We’re still doing work on it, but the pandemic is over” He then gave a nod to unmasked crowds at the auto show.
President Biden describes the crowds around the auto show. “If you notice, no one’s wearing masks. Everyone seems to be in pretty good shape.”
Biden’s chief medical advisor, Dr. Anthony Fauci seems to somewhat disagree with the President. “We are not where we need to be if we are going to quote ‘live with the virus.’ We still must be aware of how unusual this virus is and continues to be in its ability to evolve into new variants which defy the standard public health mechanisms of addressing an outbreak.”
A senior Biden official also spoke up. He claims that Mr. Biden’s statement surrounding the pandemic could “complicate” the administration’s campaign to seek updated vaccines ahead of the winter season, when flu season will be in full swing and people will be more likely to catch the virus. The senior official says they are hopeful we can reach a point where covid won’t be as much of a worry and we can simply ‘live with it.’
A pandemic is usually described as a global epidemic, meaning it is a flu or virus that isn’t in just one nation, it spreads internationally. Around the world as of yesterday (September 21st 2022,) there were 511,704 positive cases around the world with a 448,631 weekly average. The deaths reported were 1,901 with a 1,517 weekly average.
According to the CDC’s covid rates, cases and deaths are dropping continuously, and there aren’t enough current cases to consider covid a pandemic anymore. The CDC still advises people to get the vaccine and stay as safe as possible. We want to avoid another pandemic at all costs.