better late than never, I guess

Christ. My alt-media sources have been saying this for the past year and a half:

Goodbye, Pandemic; Hello, Endemic

In early 1918, when World War I entered its final year, the H1N1 influenza A virus infected millions of people, causing the Spanish flu pandemic. By April 1920, after four waves and almost 100 million deaths, the pandemic ended. H1N1 became much less deadly and caused only ordinary seasonal flu. It had become an endemic virus.

Will history repeat itself? After two years of the COVID-19 pandemic and four waves of different variants, will SARS-CoV-2 become an endemic virus?

To its credit, the article does note that scientists have been talking "endemic" for more than a year. You wouldn't know it from our news media and politicians, though; you have to follow alt-media sources to hear the full story. So, for what it's worth, I've been thinking of SARS-CoV-2 as endemic pretty much all this time, i.e., since at least early to mid-2020.* As the rest of the media finally catch up, and as certain politicians finally start using the term "endemic" in their rhetoric, all I can say to these clueless people is, "Fuckin' duh. Morons."

This is life from now on. There are already coronaviruses out there that plague us seasonally, and COVID is just going to have its own season from now on—one virus among many. It'll come in waves, and maybe we'll finally develop some effective vaccines that respond to the latest mutations every year. (Although I should note that I don't bother with regular flu shots, either! That'll change, I'm sure, once I'm old and feeble and immunocompromised.)

Meanwhile, everybody, let go of your fear. Try to enjoy life.

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*I didn't specifically use the term "endemic" on this blog until March of last year, it seems.