With increasing vaccinations and vigilance, SARS-CoV-2 could become more like other viruses, present, but not a crisis, the Washington Post writes.
It notes that, at the moment, the pandemic situation can seem bleak — especially with the emergence of new SARS-CoV-2 variants that may spread more quickly — but that there is a path forward, even though it may be "longer and more labyrinthine" than originally envisioned.
Experts tell the Post that increasing vaccinations, even if they have to be updated from time to time to handle new variants, will help prevent severe outcomes and overburdening of the healthcare system. In that way, it says, the crisis phase will fade. But, it adds that vigilance and viral surveillance will be needed to keep it at bay.
"We originally were maybe a little asleep at the wheel as to the potential of the virus," Larry Corey, a virologist at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, tells the Post. "Science will have to lead us out of it, again. … I do think we can keep ahead of this virus. Yes, it has shifted — I call it the virus's gambit. But we have a countermeasure."