Experts: Coronavirus Likely To Be A Long-Term Issue

Experts in the fields of science, medicine and infection control are worried that the coronavirus could be a consistent issue for society over the course of the next several years.

William Haseltine, a scientist, former professor at Harvard Medical School and Harvard School of Public Health and now a contributing author for Forbes, wrote in a long piece that he can now say with certainty that the new variants of SARS-CoV-2 are reason to be alarmed and future variants of COVID-19 could be an issue for many years.

Dr. John Brownstein, chief innovation officer at Boston Children's Hospital, said that eradicating the new coronavirus is going to be next to impossible, reports ABC News. Coronavirus, it appears, is here to stay.

Another expert, Dr. Paul Offit, a professor of pediatrics at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia's Division of Infectious Diseases, said in the same ABC News Report that infection of the virus is not going to be prevented through sterilization immunity, which happens to work for some other infections, like measles. However, Offit's predictions are somewhat palatable because they provide hope. He said it's likely that the continual development of new vaccines and advancements in drugs could improve the situation to the point where coronavirus will cause less severe illnesses and few deaths. In fact, he thinks coronavirus will eventually cause less deaths than the flu.

Experts also told ABC News that COVID-19 could end up being a seasonal issue, like the flu. Over many years, they reason, it will be more common for people to be exposed to COVID-19 at a young age, which could intern help them to develop a immunity that will help them in their older age.