Before leaving the house, we've all gotten used to double-checking that we have four essential items: phone, keys, wallet, mask. After two exhausting years of living in a pandemic, grabbing a mask (or two) on the way out the door has become a routine part of our mental checklist.
But at this point in the pandemic, many people are wondering if it's safe to ditch mask-wearing in schools, offices, and other indoor places, or if COVID-19 will ever fade away. According to BU epidemiologist Ellie Murray, the answer is complicated-and very much depends on the actions we take collectively. Even if COVID-19 transitions from a pandemic to an endemic disease-where infections occur in seasonal or predictable cycles, like the flu-that does not necessarily mean we'll be mask-free or that vaccinations will no longer be needed.
To move from a pandemic to endemic, says Murray, a BU School of Public Health assistant professor of epidemiology, the world needs "to have some predictable sense of where that disease is going to go next." COVID-19, she says, will likely remain prevalent for the foreseeable future, but we have the public health tools-like testing and masking-to continuously monitor and manage it.
In this video, Murray explains the difference between pandemic and endemic, how we might learn to live with COVID-19 in the future, and why she sees reason to be optimistic.
