Is The COVID Pandemic Over as U.S. Passes 96 Million Cases?

The United States has surpassed 96 million COVID cases. According to Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, there have been 96,056,075 COVID cases resulting in 1,056,373 deaths representing a mortality rate of 1.1%. Hospitalizations have continued to decline falling below 25,000 (24,920) as of September 21st according to Our World in Data. 

There is the lingering question of whether the pandemic is over. President Biden raised some eyebrows when he indicated the pandemic was over in his 60 Minutes interview which aired this past Sunday:

The pandemic is over. We still have a problem with COVID. We're still doing a lotta work on it. It's-- 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.

In the final sentence, President Biden is referring to his and Scott Pelley's presence at the Detroit Auto Show - the first in three years. I think his second sentence as is important as the first. Saying the pandemic is over doesn't mean COVID doesn't pose a public health risk. However, community spread has been mitigated by therapeutics, vaccines and gradually declining hospitalization rates. Unfortunately, some people don't read past the first sentence and many of those do so in bad faith.

In my personal experience, I still wear a mask on the MBTA and when I go on long bus trips whether it's to New York or when I went to Western Massachusetts a week ago to celebrate my 50th birthday. These days I would say it's about 50-50 between mask wearing and no mask wearing in these settings.

Of course, I always wear a mask if I'm at a medical facility and there are certain public venues in the area which still require one such as The Brattle Theatre here in Cambridge. I also recently had to wear a mask at work and also had to get tested when my colleague with whom I share an office tested positive and had to miss some time from work. Aside from that I don't wear a mask nearly as much although I keep one close at hand out of an abundance of caution. Many Americans exercise no such caution and have put COVID in a rearview mirror. While that in of itself doesn't mean the pandemic is over because of the aforementioned tools now in our possession the lack of such restraint is less fatal than it was a year ago.

Still, whether the pandemic is over is a matter of public debate. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus disagrees with President Biden's view. While Ghebreyesus says "we are beginning to glimpse the light at the end of tunnel" he adds the end of the tunnel is still "a long way off." Of course, they could both be right as President Biden is speaking of the pandemic in America whereas Ghebreyesus is speaking of the pandemic throughout the world. 

Despite America's progress in combating COVID, President Biden may have been imprudent in declaring the pandemic to be over. But when you consider his Republican opposition especially defeated, former President Trump prudence is hardly the first thing which comes to mind particularly when it comes to COVID.