Despite being discovered back in December 2019, I think it's safe to say that COVID-19 will be sticking around for many years to come, as predicted by scientists and specialists alike. Predictions have been ranging but the most commonly accepted is that the virus will continue to be prevalent in communities for the next 18-24 months.
The real focus should be on medical care services and facilities and trying our best to avoid COVID-19 from wrecking havoc on our hospitals and care homes as it did last year. With the amount of people working in the care sector on a steep decline even before the pandemic, the stress of having to work through a pandemic with vulnerable people has been too much for many care workers and hospital staff to bear and as a result, many positions are becoming vacant in the sector with much less take-up than expected in previous years.
It seems that the advice given is beneficial however, washing our hands, wearing masks in public and keeping our distance are helping to slow infection rates and thus causing less deaths in comparison to last year at the height of the pandemic. It's clear that our vaccination program is also starting to make a positive effect on our most vulnerable in society and my hope is that they are able to be distributed worldwide so everyone is able benefit from them if they so choose.
Here are some informative videos on the future of COVID-19:
At the time of writing this post, it is Italy who is worst affected by COVID-19 and has the highest amount of deaths, whilst China, the place of origin has the second highest death rate. The mean age of the people that died in Italy with COVID-19 was 81, which indicates that they may currently lacking vaccine supply or uptake in the elderly and vulnerable.
As we prepare to live life without COVID-19 in the midst of all we do, it is unclear quite how world leaders will approach this. All we can do is continue to take the necessary steps to protect ourselves and those around us, test regularly and opt for the vaccinations when we are invited. Life has undoubtedly changed forever and I find it hard to ever see things being as they once were without the reminder of how dark some of our days have been. Despite being nearly a year through, the use of face masks and social distancing is still common in my community and as flu season still upon us, it seems that everyone is taking extra precautions and testing more regularly to check their symptoms, which in turn I fear may cause a global shortage in weeks to come. With the prediction of possibly two years of living with COVID-19 to go, it is clear that things are not over just yet...
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