For the time being, there's no obvious conclusion to be drawn about the end of the pandemic, or about the emergence of an endemic state for Covid-19. There's still new variants emerging (mostly derived from Omicron) that may pose a serious danger in the medium to longer term, and one recent Israeli research paper points to the delta variant not having been totally killed off by Omicron, pointing to the possibility of a future Delta/Omicron recombination. However, I would say that currently, hopeful signals are showing in many countries. For example, on a per capita basis (the only way to properly compare between countries), hospital admissions in many countries are on the way down. Obviously, with testing/reporting down or even "on the way out" in some countries, hospitalisations are becoming a much more accurate indicator for the development of the pandemic than reported case numbers. View attachment upload_2022-5-7_21-7-7.png And for those not convinced, here's an undisputable indicator (for the Netherlands only, but there's reason to believe it isn't much different in most European countries). No matter whether people are tested / report to a doctor / report their home test results / are hospitalized, they all still defecate and produce urine. In the Netherlands there's virtually no-one with a septic tank, every building/home is connected to the public wastewater pipe system. All 326 wastewater treatment plants in the country test for virus particles 4 times a week, and the results are aggregated and published. View attachment upload_2022-5-7_21-5-40.png To me that looks pretty good, and a firm indication that Omicron is on the way out. Meanwhile, in the Philippines the hospitalization numbers are looking pretty good also: View attachment upload_2022-5-7_21-23-39.png And closer to home (our province only): View attachment upload_2022-5-7_21-25-58.png All in all, I am rather optimistic at this time. Which is not to say people should stop wearing masks when in busy places / indoors, always good to be careful, but I hope some of you who may still be scared will find reassurance that things are looking up.
