Will We Ever Say Farewell to Covid-19?

The answer goes back and forth in many minds and constantly. Even children, and those who understand the panorama only on the surface wish to play with their friends, to return to their schools with their partners and teachers, workers on depressed sectors want to return to a normality in a near future, and what can we say about scientists, doctors, nurses and the entire personnel who for more than a year have struggle full time against this pandemic. 

A psychological and physical fatigue reaches where the SARS-CoV-2 spreads. The vaccines seem to be the secret weapon, although the effectiveness in wearing the masks, cleaning with chlorinated solutions, and the physical and social distancing have proven, however, the immunization will guarantee a better protection as the world population gets vaccinated, provided the breaches of inequality are closed, and new variants don't undo the equations. 

If some people thought that, in three, five, and up to ten years this new coronavirus will be material for the history books and we would get rid of it for good, the future doesn't seem to unfold like that. Experts from Utah University recently revealed the impossibility of saying farewell to this virus. They affirm that possibly the Covid-19 will mutate towards a seasonal nuisance.   

Published in the online magazine ScienceDaily, dedicated to the emission of outstanding articles on science, health, environment, and technology, the study, based on mathematical models on how the inmmunity of people can change over time, foresees a future for the next ten years, where the new coronavirus responsible for the COVID-19 could end up becoming in little more than a nuisance, causing coughs and common colds. 

Although this future reality has not been fully proven, Fred Adler, PhD, professor of mathematics and biological sciences in Utah predicts that, "during the next decade, the gravity of the COVID-19 can lessen as populations develop immunity in a collective way". Adler remembered that nowadays circulate in the human population other more benign seasonal coronaviruses than the current SARS-CoV-2 which causes so many deaths. 

According to ScienceDaily, "some evidence indicates that one of these relatives that causes the flu could have been at some time serious", therefore there’s a chance that the mortality of this pandemic can diminish over time. It’s believed that, as adults become partially immune after a previous infection or vaccination, the serious infections can almost disappear in the next decade. 

But, what will happen to children? As these specialists at the University of Utah studied, toddlers will be exposed by the first time to the new coronavirus and luckily, as it has happened so far, they will be less prone to develop serious symptoms of the illness. It seems to be that, "light infections will win, whenever they enter our immune system to fight against the serious infections", they highlighted.

Translated by Amilkal Labañino / CubaSí Translation Staff