With Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards allowing the state's public health emergency to expire Wednesday, is it safe to say that "COVID is over?"
“COVID is not over. We are in a good place right now and hopefully that will last for a good period of time but we always should be watching out for new surges that could occur in the future,” LSU Health New Orleans Chief of Infectious Diseases Dr. Julio Figueroa told WWL. “This virus has thrown curveballs every single time we thought we had beaten it down.”
While public health experts and the Governor warn COVID is not over yet, there are clear signs that community spread levels have dropped significantly, and have returned to near pre-Omicron levels. Hospitalizations are at their lowest levels since mid-December, new daily cases are in the low hundreds, and percent positivity is in the low single digits.
While the domestic situation is looking pretty bright there are also reasons to be concerned about trends occurring overseas. Figueroa warned highly vaccinated European countries have seen an uptick in cases in recent weeks, evidence that vaccine protection is starting to wane.
Does that mean COVID has now gone endemic? Figueroa said it’s also too early to make that call given it’s only been a few months since the biggest surge of the pandemic peaked, but it’s almost a certainty that that day will come at some point.
“It is going to go in a cycle similar to other respiratory viruses that we have,” said Figueroa.
So what should you do with government and business COVID restrictions dropping left and right? Figueroa said you should still have some caution about being in large groups, especially if you are sick, and make sure that you seek out a COVID test if you feel ill so that you don’t spread the disease to the unvaccinated or immunocompromised.
