"This virus may never go away," WHO says

By Emma Farge and Michael Shields

 

FILE PHOTO: Mike Ryan, Executive Director of the World Health Organisation (WHO), attends a news conference at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland May 3, 2019. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse

 

GENEVA (Reuters) - The coronavirus that causes COVID-19 could become endemic like HIV, the World Health Organization said on Wednesday, warning against any attempt to predict how long it would keep circulating and calling for a "massive effort" to counter it.

 

"It is important to put this on the table: this virus may become just another endemic virus in our communities, and this virus may never go away," WHO emergencies expert Mike Ryan told an online briefing.

 

"I think it is important we are realistic and I don't think anyone can predict when this disease will disappear," he added. "I think there are no promises in this and there are no dates. This disease may settle into a long problem, or it may not be."

 

However, he said the world had some control over how it coped with the disease, although this would take a "massive effort" even if a vaccine was found -- a prospect he described as a "massive moonshot".

 

More than 100 potential vaccines are being developed, including several in clinical trials, but experts have underscored the difficulties of finding vaccines that are effective against coronaviruses.

 

Ryan noted that vaccines exist for other illnesses, such as measles, that have not been eliminated.

 

WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus added: "The trajectory is in our hands, and it's everybody's business, and we should all contribute to stop this pandemic."

 

Ryan said "very significant control" of the virus was required in order to lower the assessment of risk, which he said remained high at the "national, regional and global levels".

 

Governments around the world are struggling with the question of how to reopen their economies while still containing the virus, which has infected almost 4.3 million people, according to a Reuters tally, and led to over 291,000 deaths.

 

The European Union pushed on Wednesday for a gradual reopening of borders within the bloc that have been shut by the pandemic, saying it was not too late to salvage some of the summer tourist season while still keeping people safe.

 

But public health experts say extreme caution is needed to avoid new outbreaks. Ryan said opening land borders was less risky than easing air travel, which was a "different challenge".

 

"We need to get into the mindset that it is going to take some time to come out of this pandemic," WHO epidemiologist Maria van Kerkhove told the briefing.

 

(Reporting by Michael Shields and Emma Farge; Writing by Alex Richardson; Editing by Kevin Liffey)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-05-14

 

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Just pray WHO does

COVID many never go away, but in the next month or two, all those susceptible will have.

Then nobody will care about the virus.

Make my day. Thank you ????

total garbage 

 

all I have to say

 

the WHO is no longer relevant but they are trying 

Gift from China that keeps on giving. Another one in the future is basically guaranteed since they won't fix their hygienic practices and will keep messing with wildlife.

19 minutes ago, DrTuner said:

Gift from China that keeps on giving. Another one in the future is basically guaranteed since they won't fix their hygienic practices and will keep messing with wildlife.

Fix it by preparing early when your intelligence warn you and listen to science. Countries have done remarkably well to previous pandemic by doing just that.   

"The coronavirus that causes COVID-19 could become endemic like HIV, the World Health Organization said)

 

It will never go away like the influenca virus and the common cold viruses and nobody will care.

And rightly so.

You compare with HIV - why don't you compare wioth Ebola? What an ill intended comparison!

Edited May 14, 20206 yr by sweatalot

Quote

"This disease may settle into a long problem, or it may not be."

Oh well that clears that up then! well done W.H.O I don't know what we would do without your insight.

 

 

Edited May 14, 20206 yr by misterjames

13 minutes ago, misterjames said:

Oh well that clears that up then! well done W.H.O.

I think what he meant to say is the models are flawed and we probably overreacted.  

1 hour ago, webfact said:

warning against any attempt to predict how long it would keep circulating

we all know the answer to this question.

 

one minute after the voting closes for the election of the President of the United States. 

56 minutes ago, DrTuner said:

Gift from China that keeps on giving. Another one in the future is basically guaranteed since they won't fix their hygienic practices and will keep messing with wildlife.

Or clean up their serious long-term biolab security problems. Whether or not this one leaked, the Wuhan lab had been cautioned many times over the years for their bad practices, as far back as 2015.

1 hour ago, BritManToo said:

COVID many never go away, but in the next month or two, all those susceptible will have.

Then nobody will care about the virus.

Just like the flu eh?

 

IMO the OP makes logical sense

Edited May 14, 20206 yr by simple1

20 minutes ago, NCC1701A said:

we all know the answer to this question.

 

one minute after the voting closes for the election of the President of the United States. 

Wager?

Cool cool cool.... In the meantime lets just crash the global economy and throw millions and millions of people in to poverty. 

13 minutes ago, Mama Noodle said:

Cool cool cool.... In the meantime lets just crash the global economy and throw millions and millions of people in to poverty. 

Everything is going to plan. 

 

1 hour ago, sweatalot said:

"The coronavirus that causes COVID-19 could become endemic like HIV, the World Health Organization said)

 

It will never go away like the influenca virus and the common cold viruses and nobody will care.

And rightly so.

You compare with HIV - why don't you compare wioth Ebola? What an ill intended comparison!

Not to mention SARS and H1N1 which also have never gone away.  We need to learn to live with viral infections and generally we do.  I have a feeling if there was no social media or internet, this pandemic may have been a lot less of a nightmare.

31 minutes ago, Mama Noodle said:

Cool cool cool.... In the meantime lets just crash the global economy and throw millions and millions of people in to poverty. 

Be calm. US don’t listen to WHO and don’t pay their dues. 

1 hour ago, sweatalot said:

"The coronavirus that causes COVID-19 could become endemic like HIV, the World Health Organization said)

 

It will never go away like the influenca virus and the common cold viruses and nobody will care.

And rightly so.

You compare with HIV - why don't you compare wioth Ebola? What an ill intended comparison!

I agree that HIV is a bad comparison. Contracting HIV requires a choice to have unprotected sex with the wrong person. I would have chosen something like what you said, West Nile Virus or Malaria as a comparison. 

 

But I disagree with you that Covid-19 will be as minor a concern as the seasonal flu or common cold. If Covid-19 can kill a relatively high percentage of those who contract it, people won't take the same attitude until medicine of some sort comes along to make it non-lethal or at least only deadly to the same degree as the flu. We ALL get the flu, and usually more than once, at some time in our lives. If people getting the flu was often deadly to oneself or their elderly loved ones, we'd have a VERY different attitude towards it.   

 

 

 

Edited May 14, 20206 yr by Inn Between

4 minutes ago, Inn Between said:

I would have chosen something like what you said, West Nile Virus or Malaria as a comparison. 

 

Well, one is a virus and the other is a parasite, both of which are carried by mosquitoes so.... Neither are good comparisons. 

 

5 minutes ago, Inn Between said:

If Covid-19 can kill a relatively high percentage of those who contract it, people won't take the same attitude until medicine of some sort comes along to make it non-lethal or at least only deadly to the same degree as the flu. We ALL get the flu, and usually more than once, at some time in our lives. If people getting the flu was often deadly to oneself or their elderly loved ones, we'd have a VERY different attitude towards it.   

Part of what makes covid such a pain in the ass is that its not very fatal at all, with a high incubation period and high transmissibility. SARS and MERS were much more fatal and much less infectious. 

 

Higher fatality rate makes the virus less transmissible than lower fatality rate. 

29 minutes ago, Mama Noodle said:

 

Well, one is a virus and the other is a parasite, both of which are carried by mosquitoes so.... Neither are good comparisons. 

 

Part of what makes covid such a pain in the ass is that its not very fatal at all, with a high incubation period and high transmissibility. SARS and MERS were much more fatal and much less infectious. 

 

Higher fatality rate makes the virus less transmissible than lower fatality rate. 

Sorry, I don't bother giving serious replies to trolls. 

2 hours ago, Mama Noodle said:

Cool cool cool.... In the meantime lets just crash the global economy and throw millions and millions of people in to poverty. 

 

Well I have stocked up on toilet paper and Doritos. Nancy is going to send me another check. So I am good to shelter in place forever.

8 hours ago, webfact said:

Mike Ryan, Executive Director of the World Health Organisation

 

8 hours ago, webfact said:

This virus may never go away

any chance you could go away - you are part of the problem 

 

and to compare CV-19 to HIV is ridiculous 

 

The WHO trying their best to stay relevant and justify their existence after letting this virus spread around the world from China

 

Trump was 100% right to withdraw funding 

11 hours ago, Mama Noodle said:

 

Well, one is a virus and the other is a parasite, both of which are carried by mosquitoes so.... Neither are good comparisons. 

 

Part of what makes covid such a pain in the ass is that its not very fatal at all, with a high incubation period and high transmissibility. SARS and MERS were much more fatal and much less infectious. 

 

Higher fatality rate makes the virus less transmissible than lower fatality rate. 

Then why don’t you volunteer in a covid ward?? On a serious note let’s hope like hell a good vaccine is developed ASAP that could make a tremendous difference 

11 hours ago, Mama Noodle said:

Part of what makes covid such a pain in the ass is that its not very fatal at all,

A statement which is contradicted by a recent data comparison.

 

Over 15 weeks in the US Covid-19 deaths from 1.2 million cases were - 68,442

Over 30 weeks in the US flu deaths from 44.8 million cases were - 61,099

 

https://www.healthline.com/health-news/why-covid-19-isnt-the-flu#More-deaths-in-a-shorter-span

 

 

 

Edited May 14, 20206 yr by simple1

2 hours ago, simple1 said:

A statement which is contradicted by a recent data comparison.

 

Over 15 weeks in the US Covid-19 deaths from 1.2 million cases were - 68,442

Over 30 weeks in the US flu deaths from 44.8 million cases were - 61,099

 

Do you guys just wake up and look for posts to contradict? The reason covid is such a problem VS SARS or MERS is that it is less fatal and more transmissible. 

 

Most studies show 95 to 98 percent of people who get it survive. Thats just not really that fatal when compared to over viruses. 

 

Covid - 1% to 2% of people who catch it, die, while being infectious for a very long time. 

 

SARS - Around 5% to 7% die while being less transmissible. 

 

MERS - A whopping 35% of people die. 

 

 

Just now, Mama Noodle said:

Do you guys just wake up and look for posts to contradict? The reason covid is such a problem VS SARS or MERS is that it is less fatal and more transmissible. 

Once everyone has caught it, there's no longer a problem (maybe 2 months left).

It's the diseases that are hard to catch but kill a high percentage of the infected that are a problem.

Some of us guys, wake up and think for ourselves.

Edited May 15, 20206 yr by BritManToo

Human beings have learned to live with many plagues and they have changed the way we view them. That is to say, increased budgets for research, drugs and the factories that produce them and the way personal habits evolve. The Covid 19 case does seem to have initiated a 'control' aspect but we'll have to wait and see just how that goes.

24 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

Once everyone has caught it, there's no longer a problem (maybe 2 months left).

It's the diseases that are hard to catch but kill a high percentage of the infected that are a problem.

Some of us guys, wake up and think for ourselves.

 

From a pandemic management standpoint, thats just not true. It just isn't. 

"It is important to put this on the table: this virus may become just another endemic virus in our communities, and this virus may never go away," WHO emergencies expert Mike Ryan told an online briefing.

 

Well, hopefully this absolute idiot will go away soon. He should be arrested and imprisoned for inciting panic, with a statement that is so inane, it boggles the rational mind. From the beginning, the WHO has been leading the effort in panic mongering. Not helpful, at all. Facts are helpful. Ridiculously pessimistic speculation helps nobody. What we need now is hope, not statements of utter desolation and despair. Mike Ryan is a nitwit. Everything goes away eventually, except for the constant presence of idiots with little knowledge, and a platform to spout their ignorance.