The coronavirus could become endemic, meaning it reaches a more manageable stage in which surges are fairly predictable and don't upset daily life. But Boston doctors told Adam Reilly on Greater Boston that the virus is not yet at that point in the United States.
"It is true that other countries have been able to experience ... less upheavals or surges in COVID-19 numbers. When COVID-19 reaches endemicity or the endemic state in one area, it doesn't necessarily mean that all areas sync up with that, and we are not in that state as of now," said Dr. Cassandra Pierre, medical director of public health programs at Boston Medical Center.
The omicron surge that reached record-breaking levels of infection is beginning to improve, but the data show life is certainly not back to normal, said Dr. Jeremy Faust, emergency physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. He cited more hospitalizations and deaths than usual.
"'Endemic' implies that we're back to normal. And the numbers are very clear: we are nowhere near normal," Faust said. "And if we think we're normal, and we act accordingly, then we will pay the consequence for that."
Watch: Boston doctors provide updates on the future of COVID
