HealthDay Reports: Annual 'COVID-19 Season' May Be Here to Stay, Scientists Predict
Experts are predicting that COVID-19 will most likely be around for years to come.
Here's what you should know about their prediction.
Annual 'COVID-19 Season' May Be Here to Stay, Scientists Predict
TUESDAY, April 14, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- COVID-19 is likely to be around for years to come, haunting humans as either a yearly flu-like illness or as a virus that occasionally resurfaces following years of dormancy, a new Harvard modeling study argues.
It's unlikely that COVID-19 will go the way of its closest cousin, SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome), which was eradicated by an intense public health effort following a brief pandemic, the researchers said.
Instead, COVID-19 is expected to be an ongoing fact of life, with the duration of human immunity determining exactly how often the virus returns.
If immunity to the COVID-19 coronavirus is not permanent, the virus will likely enter into regular circulation -- just like the influenza virus or the beta coronaviruses responsible for the common cold, the model showed.