Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by pc86 836 days ago
It's 2024, the pandemic has been over for a number of years now.
2 comments
UncleSlacky 836 days ago
The "emergency phase" was declared over, however we're still in a pandemic. Most people want to pretend it's over, but nobody has told the virus.
link
pc86 836 days ago
COVID is endemic. Endemic and pandemic are mutually exclusive things.
link
Dylan16807 836 days ago
Physically, one is a subset of the other. It's only "mutually exclusive" from a specific (misleading) angle.
link
pc86 836 days ago
What angle? I'm talking about the definitions of the words.

Pandemic: occurring over a wide geographic area (such as multiple countries or continents) and typically affecting a significant proportion of the population; characterized by very widespread growth or extent

Endemic: characteristic of or prevalent in a particular field, area, or environment; a disease or outbreak of disease that is typically present in a particular region or population : an endemic disease

COVID doesn't even really qualify as endemic based on the dictionary definition, but it's certainly not a pandemic.

link
Dylan16807 835 days ago
Wide geographic area, yes. Significant proportion of the population, yes. Very widespread growth or extent, yes (specifically the extent option).

How does it not fit the dictionary definition of pandemic?

link
pc86 835 days ago
https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#datatracker-home

17,310 admissions, down 10.3% week over week

2.1% of deaths, down 8.7% WOW

1.5% of ED visits, down 14.6% WOW

7.4% of tests are positive, down 0.9% WOW

None of those numbers indicate growth. None of those numbers indicate a significant proportion of the population. I'll give you geography, but that's also characteristic of an endemic illness - distributed across a large geographic region among a small percentage of the population with relatively little impact.

link
ribosometronome 836 days ago
Because the disease became endemic, yes.
link