WATCH: This is how a pandemic ‘ends’

The Covid-19 pandemic has gripped the world for the past six months and there is a growing restlessness from many in society to get back to normal.

The virus has changed how we live, social distancing, wearing a mask, and frequently washing or sanitising your hands has become our ‘new normal.’

So when will the pandemic be likely over? When a vaccine is successfully created? Or complete eradication?

Yale professor of History of Medicine Dr. Naomi Rogers said there are many different kinds of ‘ends’.

There are two kinds of ‘ends’, the first one is a medical one when there is a successful treatment or prevention of the disease – this is how smallpox was eradicated in the 1970’s.

The second ‘end’ is a psychological type of ending when people decide to go back to normal. This is when individuals decide the return to normal outweighs the risks associated with the disease.

Dr Mark Rogers, professor at John Hopkins Univesity said: “There may be a kind of psychology ending to a pandemic or epidemic that isn’t medical, but its something we decide on collectively as a society.”

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