STAT The threat of the virus has clearly subsided, but opinions vary on why and how much of a risk remains. In April 2020, people around the globe were struggling to come to grips with the strictures of unprecedented societal shutdowns aimed at slowing the spread of Covid-19. Flattening the curve, in 2020-speak.
Six years later, school and business closures, mask wearing, and social distancing are dim, unpleasant memories. And Covid, though it still animates political animus plenty, feels like a threat from yesteryear. What’s happened here? Have humans and the SARS-CoV-2 virus, the cause of Covid, reached a detente? Does this virus that ended an estimated 15 million lives globally in 2020-2021 alone still pose a major hazard? After two consecutive winters when influenza, not Covid, was the bug sending hordes to their beds, is Covid now more nuisance than peril?