“Health experts warn the elderly, especially those with comorbidities, not to expose themselves unnecessarily because they are prone to the virus”
When will the COVID-19 pandemic end?
If you ask this question, since I am no health expert, my answer is, I really don’t know. I can only rely on health experts about what’s happening.
First of all, let’s define a pandemic as compared to an epidemic.
An epidemic occurs only in a certain area affecting people in a specified area, like dengue, hands and mouth disease, cholera or any disease affecting only a certain area and can be easily controlled by certain vaccines and medicines or any specialized drug or medicine.
A pandemic, like we have now with the COVID-19, occurs in many countries at the same time, and is more difficult to contain.
So, the question comes again, when will the COVID-19 pandemic end ?
As of now, the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the World Health Organization, has killed over 6 million people; here in the Philippines, COVID-19 has claimed over 64,000 lives.
We have read instances during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines of people being infected, close to 30,000 a day, and some even dying in parking areas because hospitals could not accommodate them.
Even now, with the onset of the Christmas and New Year holidays, there are dire predictions that Philippine COVID-19 cases may surge next month. To what extent, we can only guess.
Recall that there were also dire predictions on how Philippine COVID-19 cases may rise during the elections with people gathering by the thousands to attend political rallies.
Let’s just hope and pray that all the predictions about COVID-19 surging won’t happen next month as predicted.
Now, back to the question, when will COVID-19 pandemic end?
With the procurement of vaccines granting people greater immunity, it seems that at this point, the COVID-19 pandemic may actually end and things can go back to normal again.
But, will it end?
Health experts actually make a distinction of “endemic,” or the end of pandemic.
I would say that we in the Philippines are now at that stage of having COVID-19 ending “socially,” that’s our new normal.
That’s the term used by health experts and those in the know.
This means that although the COVID-19 virus is still with us, we can get back to our normal lives – socially speaking.
There are now Filipinos not wearing masks.
And I do hope they will not stop washing their hands and not stop observing social distancing.
As for me and my wife, now in our nineties, we’d rather stay home to be safe from infection, with the reported Omicron subvariant BQ.1 going around, which is supposed to be very transmissible.
To us, there’s no substitute for caution.
To quote WHO director General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, “We are not there yet. But, the end is in sight” —which is an optimistic outlook from the global health body mainly in charge of pandemic surveillance.
Yes, many countries have dropped most of their health protocols and restrictions, but still are living with the virus.
As I said, here in the Philippines, students are back to “face to face” classes, workplaces have welcomed their employees again for onsite work and nightlife is again booming.,
But, health experts warn the elderly, especially those with comorbidities, not to expose themselves unnecessarily because they are prone to the virus.
Those who have been vaccinated—because their immunity is bolstered by vaccination, especially when they have had the booster shot—can have a better chance to end the COVID-19 pandemic “socially.”
The New York Times reported that a pandemic typically has two types of ending — medical or social – and noted that a pandemic ends medically when the incidence and death rates go down, and ends socially when people are no longer afraid of the virus.
In other words, health specialists are unanimous that the COVID-19 pandemic is ending socially in the Philippines.
According to the latest Social Weather Stations survey, while the COVID-19 cases are going down, it can mean only that the worst is over.
In other words, it is a moment of uncertainty, but also of opportunity.
A health specialist said what is clear is that the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 is different from the Filipinos’ perception of the COVID-19 pandemic now.
The fact is Filipinos now have greater immunity since the disease itself has mutated to more contagious, but less severe variants.
It is still cause for concern , of course, but there are also social and medical costs. We can thank vaccination which the government has been pushing very hard.
As a medical anthropologist said, people tend to evaluate risk based on their own experiences, and most have had mild infections, but at the same time, people tend to forget easily.
The fewer deaths have also affected people’s perceptions.
All in all, here in the Philippines, the COVID-19 pandemic has not yet ended medically, but more so socially, with less deaths.
This means that the end of the COVID-19 pandemic is in sight.
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The conundrum over the Maharlika Wealth Fund continues to devolve.
The most contentious aspects of the bill – that would create a sovereign wealth fund out of the contributions of the Government Service Insurance System and Social Service System, and from two government banks, the Land Bank and the Development Bank of the Philippines, to the total amount of P250 billion out of the planned P275 billion sovereign fund – raised opposition from private and government sectors.
The aithors have now amended the proposed bill and removed from it the GSIS and the SSS shares.
The opposition stemmed mostly from fears that the Maharlika Fund might be too risky, especially since contributions from members of GSIS, who are government employees, and contributions of SSS members of the private sector, would be squandered.
Thus, the only remaining opposition is the aspect of accountability.
The finance secretary, not the President, will head the corporation that will manage the Maharlika Wealth Fund.
It will be left with P110 billion for its first year, after the House appropriations panel adds a small amount, after making a huge cut.
But, according to the House of Representatives, the GSIS and SSS can still invest in the Maharlika Wealth Fund if they wish.