Becker's Healthcare August 12, 2024
The CDC now considers COVID-19 to be endemic, though not all health experts agree with this classification, NPR reported Aug. 9.
The agency defines a pandemic as “an epidemic that has spread over several countries or continents, usually affecting a large number of people.” In contrast, an endemic is “the constant presence and/or usual prevalence of a disease or infectious agent in a population within a geographic area.”
“At this point, COVID-19 can be described as endemic throughout the world,” Aron Hall, deputy director for science at the CDC’s coronavirus and other respiratory viruses division, told NPR. “It is still a very significant problem, but one that can now be managed against the backdrop of many public health threats...