#pandemic

A Delayed Transition to Endemic

We should return to health protocols in anticipation for an increase in cases potentially sparked by the new subvariants. In so doing, we are preventing new variant infections from spiking.   About a month ago the government stated that we were entering a transitional period from the pandemic to endemic. It was an encouraging statement, justifiably supported by the fact that one month after the government allowed long homecoming holidays for Idul Fitri celebrations, a worrying caseload escalation did not occur. Amid this optimism, the daily cases started to trickle up. In fact, the average daily addition of cases had been hovering below 500 cases since May, with the data from 16 May even recording only 182 additional daily cases. This made many people optimistic about the prospect of the pandemic turning into an endemic soon.

Key to being at Peace with Coronavirus

For more than three months, we have been struggling with the COVID-19 pandemic. The peak of the infection and death curves have not yet been visible. The broader sector of our lives is affected badly. We are increasingly forced to survive until one day a vaccine and medicine are found. We are forced to increasingly accept the presence of this virus as a reality, although it is very dangerous. This is the “order” of the new world because of COVID-19. The fields of health, the economy, social relations, political processes and work culture all change and reformat the rules of the game. The new format can be long-term, even permanent. Because, it is estimated, this coronavirus will not be destroyed at all. Its ability to spread, mutate, and adapt to it new host is very quick. The coronavirus continues to mutate to maintain its life, while humans must also survive with their immune system, which is basically very sophisticated. Therefore, a kind of invitation arises that we begin to get used to living with the coronavirus, the invisible “cunning and cruel parasite”.