Coronavirus pandemic misery expected to last two more years, says expert report
CNNCNN — The new coronavirus is likely to keep spreading for at least another 18 months to two years—until 60% to 70% of the population has been infected, a team of longstanding pandemic experts predicted in a report released Thursday. “This thing’s not going to stop until it infects 60 to 70 percent of people,” Mike Osterholm, who directs the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, told CNN. He wrote the report along with Harvard School of Public Health epidemiologist Marc Lipsitch, who is also a top expert on pandemics; Dr. Kristine Moore, a former Centers for Disease Control and Prevention epidemiologist who is now medical director for CIDRAP; and historian John Barry, who wrote the 2004 book “The Great Influenza” about the 1918 flu pandemic. “Based on the most recent flu pandemics, this outbreak will likely last 18 to 24 months.” Preparing for the worst They said government officials should stop telling people the pandemic could be ending and instead prepare citizens for a long haul. “This third scenario likely would not require the reinstitution of mitigation measures, although cases and deaths will continue to occur.” States and territories should plan for scenario 2, the worst-case scenario, they recommended.