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From pandemic to endemic: Can 2022 succeed where 2021 failed?

Health experts, however, are preaching caution, saying there's too much uncertainty about how virus will evolve, how much immunity society has built up, potential damage if people stop being careful

People wait in line at a mass vaccination center in Barcelona, Spain, in May 2021. (Photo: Bloomberg)
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People wait in line at a mass vaccination center in Barcelona, Spain, in May 2021. (Photo: Bloomberg)

Naomi Kresge and Tim Loh | Bloomberg
After two years of contagion and death, Covid is shifting again. Omicron is spreading faster than any previous variant, but it’s also proving less malevolent. There’s growing talk that the worst pandemic of the past century may soon be known in another way — as endemic.

Spain threw out the idea this week, when Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said it’s time to think about new ways of living with Covid long term, such as the world does with the flu. Other countries jumped in, saying they may be moving toward a new chapter of the disease.

Health experts, however, are preaching caution,