Tetra Images/Getty Images(NEW YORK) The United States marked a new stage in the government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic when President Joe Biden announced in his State of the Union address Tuesday that "COVID-19 no longer need control our lives." The World Health Organization declared a global pandemic in March 2020 due to rapid spread of COVID-19 all across the globe. However, as many experts believe the virus that causes COVID-19 will never be eradicated, the world must at some point transition away from "pandemic" and toward an "endemic" phase. Pandemics are a widespread, rapid spread of disease, with exponentially rising cases over a large area. Endemic viruses, meanwhile, are constantly present and have a fairly predictable spread. That predictability allows health care systems and doctors to prepare and adapt, reducing loss of life. For a pandemic to reach an endemic phase, it would need to be "a situation where you have a backgrou
The Center for Disease Control is taking a new approach when it comes to nationwide COVID-19 guidelines. The agency's new recommendations could potentially end masking and social distancing guidelines for 70% of the nation and are more focused on hospitalization rates rather than sheer case numbers.
The federal Food and Drug Administration has granted emergency use authorization of Paxlovid (nirmatrelvir plus ritonavir), the first antiviral pill for the treatment of COVID-19.