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As Ontario Canadians grow weary after two years of COVID-19, people are tossing around the term “endemic” as an expression of hope that we’re moving into a stage where we pull back public health restrictions and live with the virus. Politically, the word endemic seems to be being conflated with: ‘We’re done with this and let’s move on. The word ‘endemic’ has become one of the most misused of the pandemic. Thinking that endemicity is both mild and inevitable is wrong. It also falsely suggests the pandemic is nearing an end in Canada and other wealthy countries.

Image rights belong to:  Ottawa CTV News

“Endemic” means a virus is present in a region at a stable level, without the rising and falling waves of infection that we’ve seen so far throughout the coronavirus pandemic. Endemicity occurs when the natural replication of a virus is balanced out by the built-up immunity in the population, resulting in an overall constant number of cases in the community.

COVID-19 will continue to be a threat in rich countries like Canada until significantly more people in all countries are vaccinated. If rich countries truly made global vaccination a priority, the virus could be under control within months. You cannot solve a global problem locally. If we help the rest of the world control COVID, there’ll be no variants coming out of those countries anymore. Only then can the pandemic come to an end.

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