Is Omicron The End Of The COVID Pandemic? Here’s What The Experts Think

As Omicron spreads across the U.S., many are convinced that this variant may signal the end of the COVID pandemic. But experts are warning that it may be too soon to foresee the virus coming to a close.

The nation’s leading infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, said during the World Economic Forum’s online Davos Agenda summit that it is too soon to predict the end of the pandemic.

“I would hope that that’s the case. But that would only be the case if we don’t get another variant that eludes the immune response of the prior variant,” Fauci said on Monday.

Even if Omicron ends up being the final variant of the pandemic, Fauci maintained during the Davos Agenda summit that it is unlikely to be the end of the virus as he suggested that COVID-19 will remain in society as an endemic.

“It’s not going to be that you’ll eliminate this disease completely. But hopefully, it will be at such a low level that it doesn’t disrupt our normal social, economic, and other interactions with each other. To me, that’s what the new normal is,” he said.

Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy believes the nation has not yet hit its peak with the Omicron variant and is still headed toward some “tough” days ahead.

He told CNN, "There are parts of the country, New York, in particular, and other parts of the Northeast, where we are starting to see a plateau, and in some cases, an early decline in cases.

“The challenge is that the entire country is not moving at the same pace. The Omicron wave started later in other parts of the country, so we shouldn't expect a national peak in the next coming days. The next few weeks will be tough.”

Last week more than 750,000 new COVID cases were reported every day, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

If the U.S. does move toward an endemic phase following the Omicron wave, Fauci doesn’t know what that new normal will look like, but he believes that masks will not be required.

He said at the Davos Agenda summit, “I do not think the people would be walking around with masks on forever, but one new normal I would hope for is greater solidarity with each other. I also hope the new normal would include a strong memory about what a pandemic can do to us.”