Harvard medical professor says it’s time to move on from pandemic

It’s time to let the young, healthy and “anyone who wants to move on” from the pandemic do so, said Dr. Stefanos Kales, a professor at Harvard Medical School.

In a paper posted on LinkedIn last month, Kales said that for the majority of children and adults, “Covid-19 is not a serious threat, only a nuisance that impedes schooling, work and travel.”

“Once Omicron peaks, subsequent variants are likely to be even more mild,” he said. “We badly need to allow the general public, particularly the young, to get back to normal life.”

He said he favors focusing Covid-19 efforts on “the vulnerable” rather than the population as a whole.

“Many reasoned, outspoken and honest scientists have been making the point that Covid-19 is moving rapidly from a ‘pandemic’ … to an ‘endemic’ respiratory infection comparable to the common cold and flu,” he said.

In light of this, it’s “past due” to rethink some Covid protocols, he said.

Less testing and fewer restrictions

‘Overestimating’ danger of Covid

Not there yet

Kales’ opinions differ from many in the medical community, which as a group has been among the staunchest proponents of pandemic protocols.

One such person is Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top U.S. infectious disease expert, who said this week that the United States may be heading into a new phase of the pandemic. But, he cautioned, it isn’t there yet.

“I have said, and continue to say, that currently we are still at war with the virus,” he said Monday on “The Daily,” a podcast published by The New York Times. “We have 2,300 deaths a day, 156,000 hospitalizations, and we have the danger of new variants occurring.”

Loosening travel curbs

Source: https://www.cnbc.com/2022/02/04/harvard-medical-professor-says-its-time-to-move-on-from-pandemic-.html