In the early days of the COVID pandemic, the term ‘the new normal’ became a popular way to describe the sudden shift to life in a closure, ensuring a mask on your face to leave the house and constantly scrub your hands. People hoped that one day we would leave this new normal behind to return to the normal we had known before – to live life without considering coronavirus. Although it may seem realistic at some point, the White House COVID adviser said Anthony Fauci, MD, now has a different expectation of what “normal” will look like. Read on to see what Fauci thinks about the future after the pandemic, and for more speculation over the next few years of life, the Moderna CEO has just made this narrow prediction about COVID.
During an interview with The Hill on January 27, Fauci made it clear that we can never completely take our minds off COVID. “If normal means we pay no attention to anything, we never go to normal,” he said. “It would be abnormal for me, because from now on we have to be constantly vigilant.”
Society will not be able to completely disregard COVID, mainly because the virus will remain a threat. And this is one that researchers and doctors alike need to be aware of. “It’s for me the new normal – constant vigilance,” Fauci added. And sign up for our daily newsletter for more information.
Fauci pointed out that the virus is still developing, which may require adjustments to treatments and vaccines. “We need to be prepared for the fact that it will be an elusive virus, and that we will have to make some changes in our interventions, whatever it may be,” he said. Fauci mentioned the potential for an upgraded vaccine or various monoclonal antibody treatments.
In the year since we first started seeing the coronavirus, it has mutated many times. Some mutations were benign, while others were more challenging to contain. Recent research has concluded that the vaccine is slightly less effective against the COVID strain in South Africa. In response, experts began work on an additional booster dose that would reduce the gap in protection. Adjustments like these may be necessary for the coming years as the virus continues to develop. And for more information on the future of the pandemic, COVID researchers have just released their darkest forecast from 2021 to date.
Fauci’s warning words were not all gloomy – he also assured listeners that there was hope. “There’s light at the end of the tunnel,” Fauci said. “We will start to approach a degree of normality when we come in the late fall of this year, as we come in the winter.”
At the same time, the contagious disease expert was careful to temper his optimistic words with a different dose of reality. “We have to keep an eye on it and keep our pressure on it. Otherwise it could slip away from us,” he added. And for an unforgettable moment of the past year, dr. Fauci said hearing these 5 words about COVID made him cry.
CNBC reported that during a panel discussion at the JPMorgan Healthcare conference on January 13, the CEO of Moderna Stéphane Bancel shared his predictions about the future of COVID. “SARS-CoV-2 is not going away,” Bancel said. “We are going to live with this virus forever.” The formal word for this is ‘endemic’, which means that the virus is always present and that it circulates at low levels at all times, but only occasionally causes serious diseases. And for more news on the coronavirus, these drugs that are not available could kill COVID, study says.