After four years of battling the COVID-19 pandemic, people around the country have finally started to resume their normal routines. With the widespread availability of vaccines and a significant portion of the population now immune due to prior infections, Americans are beginning to move on from the fear and uncertainty that gripped the nation for so long.
Federal guidance issued on March 1 has allowed COVID-positive individuals to return to work and school sooner, signaling a shift towards a more relaxed approach to the virus. In fact, COVID-19 went from being the leading cause of death to the 10th last year, a drastic improvement from the early days of the pandemic when closures and millions of deaths plagued the country.
Despite the lower infection rates and increasing immunity within the population, the pandemic still remains in a state of uneasy calm. Hospitals and nursing homes are still stretched thin and ill-prepared for potential new outbreaks, as excess deaths in states like Massachusetts remain high.
Public interest in the pandemic is waning, much to the frustration of public health experts who are concerned that vital changes in healthcare systems have not been made. While the majority of Americans have received at least one vaccine dose, booster uptake remains low and structural changes to keep people healthier and safer have not been implemented, posing ongoing risks.
With the virus claiming over 23,000 lives in Massachusetts alone, experts worry that chronic excess mortality could become the “new normal” if precautions are not taken. Key measures like hospitalizations and reinfections are no longer being tracked in some states, as concerns about bed capacity, workforce shortages, and insurance coverage for disadvantaged communities have faded in the collective sense of crisis ebbing.
