How long will COVID-19 last?

Medical News Today recently published a feature that asks how long COVID-19 is likely to last. In the article, the author collates comments from a variety of experts, including WHO advisor Prof. David Heymann. Although no one can provide a definitive answer, the article offers valuable insight.

Finding a vaccine may help bring this pandemic to a close, and some believe that this might be available by fall. Others, however, are less optimistic. The article also asks what might happen once the pandemic slows and we begin returning to a relatively normal life.

Prof. Paul Kellam, an infectious disease specialist and professor of virus genomics at Imperial College London in the United Kingdom believes that SARS-CoV-2 may become a seasonal human pathogen, like the coronaviruses that cause seasonal colds. “In that sense,” he explains, “humans will be with this virus forever.”