WHAT IF COVID-19 REMAINS FOREVER !

What if COVID-19 Remains Forever!

How would you feel if COVID-19 never ended? Despite all of the masks, tests, and vaccinations, there is no guarantee that COVID-19 will ever end. But even if the virus doesn't go away, it might not be as bad as it seems.

Unfortunately, there are a couple of ways that COVID-19 could be here to stay; Vaccines may not be completely effective, animals could infect us again and the virus could continue to mutate. People don't always take well to restrictive measures; like wearing masks and social distancing.

Vaccines are only effective if people are willing to participate. If most people are vaccinated, the virus will have a hard time for finding someone who is susceptible. Eventually, the spread will slow and die out. This is called "herd immunity".

But say a large number of people refuse to get vaccinated or socially distance. The virus would continue to spread. In the future, vaccines could help to stop the spread in most of the areas, but there may be some communities that don't get or refuse to take the vaccines. As a result of which localized outbreaks could occur.

Another way COVID-19 could continue to spread is the way it originated that is through Animals. It isn't just Bats and pangolins either. Tigers at the zoo and minks at a farm have had COVID-19. Without animal-friendly practices, the virus could live on and infect us again, even if it was eradicated in humans.

And then there is the third way by which COVID-19 could stick around that is Mutation. COVID-19 might not go away, but that is not say it won't be manageable. There are already four other coronaviruses (HCOV_9E, HCOV-HKU1, HCOV-NL63, HCOV-OC43) that regularly circulates among humans. One of the reasons COVID-19 is so deadly is because it's new. Our bodies have never been exposed to this virus before.

Eventually, years into the future, our immune systems could adapt to protect us. In the future, COVID-19 could be another virus that gives us the cold.