Will the coronavirus ever disappear?
Nobody knows it for sure. Scientists believe that the virus that causes COVID-19 could persist for decades or even longer, but that does not mean that it continues to pose the same threat.
The virus appeared at the end of 2019 and it is difficult to predict how it will behave in the long term. But many experts believe the illness is likely to change from a crisis to a nuisance like the common cold over time.
This would happen as the population builds up immunity, either through infection or with vaccination. Other viruses have followed a similar path.
The 1918 flu pandemic could offer clues about the direction COVID-19 could take.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that a third of the world’s population was infected with this virus, which originated in birds. Finally, after the infected died or developed immunity, the virus stopped spreading as fast. It later mutated into a less virulent form, which experts say continues to circulate seasonally.
However, the emergence of new variants of the coronavirus could complicate the picture if their future mutations cause more serious disease or do not respond to vaccines.
It is unlikely that the virus will be completely eradicated given the possibility that people can be reinfected after having passed the disease or being immunized.
The only virus eradicated by humans is smallpox, which was achieved when the population developed lasting immunity after becoming ill or vaccinated.
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