Is the pandemic over? I’m not Biden it

Biden claims the pandemic is over, but what does ‘over’ really mean?

Ronnie Saenz / Contributor / The USD Vista

At the beginning of the semester, one of my classes required masks. Since then, that rule has been lifted, putting an unofficial end to the mask era. Even though masks have had their fond farewell, the story of the pandemic is not over yet, and President Biden wants to cut this story short.

President Biden’s “60 Minutes” interview on Sept. 18 covered many bases — from Ukraine, to Mar-a-lago, to Uvalde — but one topic that came up, surprisingly briefly, was the COVID-19 pandemic. When President Biden was asked about the state of the pandemic, he gave his opinion on the issue.

“The pandemic is over. We still have a problem with COVID. We’re still doing a lot of work on it. But the pandemic is over. If you notice, no one’s wearing masks. Everybody seems to be in pretty good shape. And so I think it’s changing. And I think this is a perfect example of it,” Biden stated.

This may make sense in theory, as masks and even social distancing requirements are being lifted across the country, but the Merriam-Webster definition of a pandemic is “an outbreak of a disease that occurs over a wide geographic area (such as multiple countries or continents) and typically affects a significant proportion of the population.” I’m no scientist, but nowhere does that definition mention mask and social distancing requirements as a part of defining a pandemic, or when it’s over.

We know COVID-19 cases are still high, as Dr. Michael T. Osterholm, an infectious-disease specialist at the University of Minnesota, points out in a Sept. 19 interview for the New York Times about President Biden’s comments.

“We’ve had two million cases reported over the last 28 days, and we know underreporting is substantial. [COVID-19] continues to be the Number four cause of death in the country,” said Dr. Osterholm.

Two million cases in the U.S. means there is still an outbreak of COVID-19 here, and there are still outbreaks and spikes in COVID-19 cases in other countries such as China, which continues to tighten restrictions as a result. So we need to do more to stop COVID-19 across the world as much as we do in the U.S.

The World Health Organization (WHO) actually outlines the procedures that need to be followed in order to stop the pandemic, such as distributing vaccines globally, building trust in preventative COVID-19 treatment and reducing the spread of COVID-19 in clinics. Once these measures are in place, outbreaks across the world will decrease dramatically. The end of the pandemic is marked by the end of outbreaks globally.

My family did not let our guard down; we have been very good about following all Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines since the beginning of the pandemic. Wash your hands, wear a mask, self isolate and get vaccinated. We even cleaned our groceries toward the beginning, when no one knew how COVID-19 was transmitted. We took precautions for two years and no one ever got COVID-19. We saw friends and extended family get sick, but not us. We were one of the few to hold out.

That was until late this August. My dad contracted COVID-19 and was sick for two weeks. He had both boosters but was still miserably bed-ridden for two weeks, as he has a compromised immune system. My dad believes he would have died if he wasn’t vaccinated, and I believe him.

I’m not saying COVID-19 is as dangerous as it was a year ago, but it certainly is still prevalent enough that we can’t say the pandemic is over. It’s still all over the country and the world, and the USD waste water report confirms new cases right here on campus, weekly. COVID-19 cases have declined dramatically in the past year, but as it’s still the number four cause of death in the country, it’s too early to keep our guard down. In the meantime, wash your hands, social distance, get tested if you’re sick, and most importantly, get vaccinated.