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Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky says there are two key signs to look for down the line that are key indicators when the time comes that it does finally wind down.
The first is a manageable number of hospitalizations, and the second is a significant drop in the number of daily deaths, she said in an interview with ABC News.
To get there, Walensky emphasized the importance of relying on strategies that have proven to be effective, namely vaccines and mask-wearing when indoors.
"Masks are for now, they're not forever," said Walensky. "We have to find a way to be done with them."
Former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said on MSNBC Tuesday morning, Dec. 14 that "This year is almost certainly that transition year where we go from the pandemic phase to a more endemic phase.
"It's going to be accelerated by our technology. We also have massive testing in place and screening, and we've done a very good job distributing vaccines. This has been a historic distribution of a vaccine. Our toolbox is very different right now. ... This is not March 2020. We know how to combat this virus now."
COVID has now caused more than 800,000 deaths in the United States, which had been rated as the most prepared nation in the world for a pandemic by the Global Health Security Index in October 2019, just before the novel coronavirus was first detected.
The latest GHS report, released on Wednesday, Dec. 8, says "Some countries found that even a foundation for preparedness did not necessarily translate into successfully protecting against the consequences of the disease because the failed to also adequately address high levels of public distrust in government and other political risk factors that hindered their response.
"Further, some countries had the capacity to minimize the spread of disease, but political leaders opted not to use it, choosing short-term political expediency or populism over quickly and decisively moving to head off virus transmission."
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