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<ul class="summary-list"><li>Forget friendship bracelets — some Swifties are calling Covid-19 their new concert souvenirs.</li><li>Some fans who got COVID-10 after attending her Eras Tour are calling it a "gift" from "Mother."</li></ul>It's been years since the pandemic times of COVID-19 lockdowns and the era of mandated masking. But while the virus is still circulating, some Swifties have become wildly optimistic about what it means to catch an infection at one of their idol's concerts. So much so that some Swifties on social media are playfully dubbing the COVID-19 infection they think they got from her concerts a "souvenir" and a "gift" from "Mother."A post on X from a Spanish Taylor Swift fan account asked followers: "Did you go to <a target="_blank" class="css-1jxf684 r-bcqeeo r-1ttztb7 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3 r-1loqt21" href="https://x.com/hashtag/MadridTStheErasTour?src=hashtag_click">#MadridTStheErasTour</a> and take COVID, a virus, or a cold with you as a souvenir? I open a survey."Of the nearly 10,800 votes, 35% voted yes. People in the poll's comments section described their symptoms and showed their positive COVID-19 tests — but also raved about how they thought it was worth it. The poll has been viewed nearly 144,000 times at press time.One X user <a target="_blank" href="https://x.com/RaquellvsRhett/status/1797947023641247766">commented</a>: "Going to Taylor's concert has meant losing my voice, losing my mental health and, well, my health in general, I'm more dead than alive (but I would go to the concert a thousand more times)."Earlier in February, an Australian concertgoer posted a TikTok of herself dressed up in her concert outfit and glam makeup. The video then cut straight to her holding up a positive COVID-19 test kit in bed. She captioned the post: "The Eras Tour souvenir no ones talking about. if youre heading to the sydney shows this weekend, wash your hands regularly!"However, other X users have voiced their disbelief at Swifties calling the virus a souvenir.One X user <a target="_blank" href="https://x.com/pot8um/status/1799513266265166174?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1799513266265166174%7Ctwgr%5E823e04af52763fad2f3a84db8d34b05f9516778a%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmuse.insider.com%2Fstory%2F666a622b074e87bb00f6cf0e">wrote:</a> "Taylor Swift's concert attendees are calling their Covid infections 'souvenirs' and 'gifts' from 'Mother,' and I'm supposed to NOT wanna launch myself into the sun???"Concerts have gained notoriety as COVID-19 superspreader events. In 2021, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.newsweek.com/over-2200-people-catch-covid-after-spain-music-festivals-catalonia-1616207">over 2,200 people caught the virus</a> after going to music festivals in northeast Spain.And while the virus is treated more like the common flu now, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/august-flu-vs-covid-infection-rate-2023-8">COVID-19 is still circulating</a> — and people are getting infected across the US.Virus-spreading or not, Swift's Eras Tour has been widely successful, propelling the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tortured-poets-department-taylor-swift-new-album-earnings-eras-tour-2024-4">singer-songwriter to billionaire status</a>. Swift is now in the UK for her next leg of the tour. Swift's representative didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

The COVID-19 infection you caught at a Taylor Swift concert is not a gift from 'Mother'

Union <keyword id="6356374" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="health-minister" source="Orion">Health Minister</keyword> Mansukh Mandaviya is scheduled to hold a virtual meeting with the Indian Medical Association (IMA) on Monday. The IMA informed that Mandaviya will hold the meeting via video conferencing at 4 pm regarding the <keyword id="15884888" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="covid-19-situation-and-preparedness" source="Orion">Covid-19 situation and preparedness</keyword>. On Saturday, Mandaviya said that the government has been working to control the <keyword id="8913021" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="spread-of-covid-19" source="Orion">spread of Covid-19</keyword> and urged the people to wear masks and follow covid appropriate behaviour. "We are working on alert mode to control the spread of Covid-19 and are conducting environmental, sewage and human surveillance. Virus RNA was found in the sewage samples in Delhi and Mumbai," Mandaviya had said. He further urged the people to wear masks, avoid crowded places and follow Covid-appropriate behaviour. The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Saturday decided to hold mock drills at all health facilities across the country on December 27 in the wake of the COVID alarm due to a surge in infection in many countries. This is to ensure readiness in the availability of oxygen support, and ICU beds among other preparedness measures in case of a surge of COVID cases in India. According to the Ministry, the objective of the exercise is to ensure the operational readiness of these health facilities for the management of COVID. Detailing the focus on the parameters during the mock drills, it said that the main focus will be on the bed capacities including isolation, oxygen-supported and ICU beds at the health facilities. Prime Minister Narendra Modi also chaired a high-level meeting on Thursday (December 22) to assess the COVID-19 situation in the country and cautioned against complacency while laying stress on testing and strengthening the surveillance measures, especially at international airports. He emphasized COVID-appropriate behavior at all times, especially in view of the upcoming festive season, including wearing masks in crowded public places. Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Union Health Miniter Mansukh Mandaviya and NITI Aayog Chief Executive Officer Parameswaran Iyer were among others who participated in the meeting. SEE ALSO: <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/science/environment/news/bsip-study-mangroves-shrinking-in-india-due-to-climate-change/articleshow/96511070.cms">BSIP Study: Mangroves shrinking in India due to climate change</a> <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/india/news/pm-modi-tells-people-to-be-vigilant-as-covid-cases-were-rising-in-many-countries/articleshow/96493073.cms">PM Modi tells people to be vigilant as Covid cases were rising in many countries</a>

Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya to hold meeting with Indian Medical Association today

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Nearly 500 doctors had complaints filed against them over spreading COVID-19 misinformation.</li><li>But only 4% received disciplinary action from state medical boards, the Washington Post reports.</li></ul>Nearly 500 doctors had complaints of spreading COVID-19 misinformation filed against them in the last three years. And state medical boards only disciplined 4% of those doctors, a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2023/07/26/covid-misinformation-doctor-discipline/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Washington Post investigation</a> revealed.From January 2020 to June 2023, the Post identified at least 480 complaints against physicians, related to spreading misinformation about the COVID-19 pandemic. Several of these complaints related to doctors promoting the use of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-ivermectin-being-used-treat-covid-2-doctors-leading-charge-2021-9">ivermectin</a> or hydroxychloroquine.Then-President Donald <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/rand-paul-scientists-wont-study-ivermectin-covid-cure-hatred-trump-2021-8">Trump and several of his allies promoted the two drugs</a> in 2020, but health authorities have demonstrated they are ineffective against COVID-19 and can have dangerous side effects.Both the <a href="https://emergency.cdc.gov/newsletters/coca/020122.htm">US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention</a> and the <a href="https://www.fda.gov/consumers/consumer-updates/why-you-should-not-use-ivermectin-treat-or-prevent-covid-19">Food and Drug Administration</a> recommend against the use of either drug for COVID-19 treatment.Out of the 20 doctors disciplined for spreading COVID-19 misinformation, five of them lost their medical licenses, the Post reported.Others received fines but continued practicing — for instance, the Wisconsin Department of Safety and Professional Services fined a doctor just $3,943 after he prescribed two patients ivermectin to treat COVID-19, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/documents/0a5edbec-2202-4bd3-a1f5-c5d435cdd286.pdf?itid=lk_inline_manual_1">according to documents the Post obtained</a>. Both patients later died.Meanwhile, it is becoming even more difficult for some states to discipline doctors. Seven states have passed legislation since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic limiting the ability of medical boards to punish doctors who prescribe either of the drugs, the Post reported.This includes Florida, where Republican legislators pushed a law that passed in May <a href="https://www.axios.com/2023/05/12/desantis-medical-freedom-laws">preventing authorities</a> from punishing doctors who spread COVID-19 misinformation on social media, Axios reported.

Barely any of the doctors accused of spreading COVID-19 misinformation were ever disciplined, the Washington Post found

Geneva [Switzerland], August 19 (ANI): World Health Organization (WHO) designated <keyword id="18456567" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="covid-19-variant-ba-2-86" source="Orion">COVID-19 variant BA.2.86</keyword> as a 'variant under monitoring' due to the large number of mutations it carries. The WHO said on Friday that they are tracking 3 variants of interest and 7 variants under monitoring at the moment. "WHO continues to call for better surveillance, sequencing, and reporting of #COVID19 as this virus continues to circulate and evolve," the WHO said in a tweet. Who further stated that it needed more data to understand this COVID19 variant and the extent of its spread, but the number of mutations warrants attention. Recently, the latest variant, EG.5 (also known as Eris), has grabbed the attention of public health experts around the world and is becoming a dominant strain in countries including the United States and Britain. The variant is causing about 17 per cent of the new Covid-19 cases in the country compared to 16 per cent for the next most common lineage, XBB.1.16, according to the latest estimates from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, CNN reported. The new variant is a spinoff of the XBB recombinant strain of the Omicron family. According to the WHO, all viruses, including SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, change over time. Most changes have little to no impact on the virus's properties. However, some changes may affect the virus's properties, such as how easily it spreads, the associated disease severity, or the performance of vaccines, therapeutic medicines, diagnostic tools, or other public health and social measures. In June 2020, the WHO Virus Evolution Working Group was established with a specific focus on SARS-CoV-2 variants, their phenotype and their impact on countermeasures. This later became the Technical Advisory Group on SARS-CoV-2 Virus Evolution. In late 2020, the emergence of variants that posed an increased risk to global public health prompted WHO to characterize some as variants of interest (VOIs) and variants of concern (VOCs) to prioritize global monitoring and research and to inform and adjust the COVID-19 response. From May 2021 onwards, WHO began assigning simple, easy-to-say labels for key variants. Considerable progress has been made in establishing and strengthening a global system to detect signals of potential VOIs or VOCs and rapidly assess the risk posed by SARS-CoV-2 variants to public health. It remains critical that these systems are maintained, and data are shared, according to good principles and in a timely fashion, as SARS-CoV-2 continues to circulate at high levels around the world. While monitoring the circulation of SARS-CoV-2 globally, it also remains essential to monitor their spread in animal populations and chronically infected individuals, which are crucial aspects of the global strategy to reduce the occurrence of mutations that have negative public health implications. In March 2023, WHO updated its tracking system and working definitions for variants of concern, variants of interest and variants under monitoring, as per WHO. (ANI)

WHO designates Covid's BA.2.86 as 'variant under monitoring'

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The FDA authorized an updated COVID-19 booster tailored to protect against the Omicron variant. </li><li>The CDC recommended the shots, which means they can be shipped across the country.</li></ul>Following the Food and Drug Administration's approval of the newest COVID-19 booster shot, the CDC has now recommended the vaccine — meaning it will be available to millions of Americans later this week.The FDA <a href="https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-takes-action-updated-mrna-covid-19-vaccines-better-protect-against-currently-circulating" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said in a press release on Monday</a> that the boosters from Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech help protect against commonly circulating variants, including EG.5 and BA.2.86.The quick-spreading strain EG.5, also known as Eris, has likely been the culprit behind <a href="https://www.insider.com/august-flu-vs-covid-infection-rate-2023-8">recent summer COVID surges</a>, though it doesn't appear to make people any sicker than previous strains, <a href="https://www.insider.com/new-covid-variant-eris-symptoms-transmission-2023-8">Insider previously reported</a>. On Tuesday, the CDC's Advisory Committee backed the FDA's recommendation that individuals over 6 months old get the new vaccine. The CDC's director Dr. Mandy Cohen formally recommend it Tuesday evening, per a statement from the CDC."We have more tools than ever to prevent the worst outcomes from COVID-19," Cohen said in a statement. "CDC is now recommending updated COVID-19 vaccination for everyone 6 months and older to better protect you and your loved ones."    <h2>When will the booster be available?</h2>Since Cohen gave the booster the go-ahead, millions of doses will be shipped within days and could be available at pharmacies and doctors' offices across the country as soon as the end of this week, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/11/health/covid-vaccine-boosters-fda-pfizer-moderna.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The New York Times reported. </a>The CDC announced that many people will still be able to get the updated vaccine for free. "For people with health insurance, most plans will cover COVID-19 vaccine at no cost to you," the CDC wrote in a statement. "People who don't have health insurance or with health plans that do not cover the cost can get a free vaccine from their local health centers; state, local, tribal, or territorial health department; and pharmacies participating in the CDC's Bridge Access Program. Children eligible for the Vaccines for Children program also may receive the vaccine from a provider enrolled in that program."The FDA granted approval for people 12 and older to receive a single dose of the latest mRNA vaccine and authorized emergency use for kids 6 months to 11 years of age. Kids aged 6 months to 4 years who have not yet received any vaccination can get three doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech booster or two doses of the Moderna booster, the agency said. "Vaccination remains critical to public health and continued protection against serious consequences of COVID-19, including hospitalization and death," Peter Marks, director of the FDA's Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, said in the agency's press release."The public can be assured that these updated vaccines have met the agency's rigorous scientific standards for safety, effectiveness, and manufacturing quality," Marks added. "We very much encourage those who are eligible to consider getting vaccinated."

The new COVID-19 booster will be available at your local pharmacy by the end of the week

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The US is considering testing airline wastewater for COVID-19 to track the virus.</li><li>COVID-19 cases are surging among China's 1.4 billion people after a three-year of strict lockdowns.</li></ul>The US is considering testing the contents of plane toilets on international flights for COVID-19 to track the virus and any potential new variants, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the agency told <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/us-considers-airline-wastewater-testing-covid-surges-china-2022-12-30/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Reuters. </a>The policy option is being studied as COVID-19 cases surge in China among its 1.4 billion people after a three-year of strict lockdowns.More than 5,000 people are likely dying from COVID-19 in China each day, according to <a href="https://www.airfinity.com/articles/chinas-covid-19-wave-forecast-to-have-two-peaks-where-cases-could-reach-4-2" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">Airfinity,</a> a health data company, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/china-covid-likely-million-cases-thousands-deaths-daily-2022-12">Insider reported last week.</a> Several <a href="https://www.insider.com/us-covid-test-required-for-travelers-from-china-jan-5-2022-12">countries have moved to enforce additional tests for travelers arriving from China. </a>Three infectious disease experts told Reuters that testing wastewater collected on airplanes would be more effective at tracking the virus than testing travelers on entry. Dr. Michael Osterholm, an infectious disease expert at the University of Minnesota, told the news agency that mandatory testing has so far failed to stop the spread of COVID-19 and is "essential from a political standpoint" but not from a scientific one. Dr. Eric Topol, a genomics expert, and director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute in La Jolla, California, told Reuters that testing airline toilet water would offer a better idea of how the COVID-19 virus is mutating. This would also help combat China's lack of COVID-19 data, Topol said. According to the <a href="https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/health-environment/article/3205055/testing-chinese-poop-not-people-malaysia-spurns-covid-plans-japan-india-chinas-reopening" target="_blank" rel="noopener">South China Morning Post</a>, the Malaysian government has announced that they will start screening toilet water on flights from China to track the virus. They will not, however, be testing travelers upon arrival to Malaysia.Current evidence suggests that testing wastewater is more effective than COVID-19 tests in revealing infections, with <a href="https://affiliate.insider.com?postID=63b0211e3295301347484d73&amp;site=bi&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nature.com%2Farticles%2Fs41586-022-05049-6">researchers from San Diego finding </a>that wastewater tests showed the presence of the Alpha, Delta, Epsilon, and Omicron variants up to two weeks before people tested positive using nasal swabs.

The CDC is considering testing airline poop and toilet waste for COVID-19 as anxieties rise about China's virus spread

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The general public's attitude toward COVID is more relaxed than ever, even amid a summer surge.</li><li>Doctors say relaxed COVID precautions are to be expected and are not necessarily a bad thing.</li></ul>Gone are the days of scrubbing surfaces, sudden <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/covid-shut-down-school-two-days-after-classes-started-2022-1">school closures</a>, and social distancing.Where a positive COVID-19 test once wrought panicked <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/covid-19-mistakes-us-focus-on-contact-tracing-not-sequencing-2021-3">contract tracing </a>and guaranteed two weeks of isolation, these days, a diagnosis sparks relatively little worry for most people.Even amid a summer spike in cases — everyone from President <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/biden-tests-positive-for-covid-19-2024-7#:~:text=President%20Joe%20Biden%20tested%20positive,Press%20Secretary%20Karine%20Jean%2DPierre.">Joe Biden</a> to the 2024 Summer Olympians seems to be battling the virus — the general public's attitude toward the pandemic that upended our lives more than four years ago is more relaxed than ever.The federal public health emergency for COVID expired in May 2023, officially <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/the-covid-19-global-health-emergency-is-over-who-says-2023-5">ending the crisis</a>, at least in name, more than three years after it was first declared. Since then, thanks to high infection and immunization rates, the country has continued climbing toward the herd immunity doctors so desperately sought in the early days of the pandemic, four medical professionals told Business Insider."The risk perception and anxiety around acute COVID infection has definitely lessened," said Dr. Anita Chopra, an internist at the University of Washington medical system. "People are interacting and mingling more like in pre-pandemic times."Healthcare professionals told BI that the public's more relaxed attitude toward COVID is ultimately a good thing. <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/life-returning-to-normal-labor-market-vaccines-pandemic-2021-11">A return to normality</a> was the goal, after all.But COVID is still very present and very much a potential threat, especially for the immunocompromised and those unlucky enough to <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/who-official-individuals-coronavirus-infection-unlucky-long-covid-2022-6">develop long COVID symptoms</a> — up to 10% of patients, according to some doctor estimates. Meanwhile, relaxed masking and declining vaccination rates, while to be expected at this point, could be linked to the rising case numbers doctors are seeing in clinics around the country, medical professionals told BI."We need to acknowledge that we're in a very different place now than we were at the height of the pandemic," said Dr. Eric Chow, chief of communicable disease epidemiology and immunizations at Public Health Seattle and King County. "But so long as COVID-19 continues to circulate, there are health implications to getting infected."<h2 id="8540c815-ae27-4465-8106-21a572b3f035">Evolving behaviors and beliefs</h2>Many of the early-day pandemic precautions have all but disappeared in 2024. Chief among them, according to doctors, are <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mask-mandates-lifted-states-reasonable-experts-2022-2">masking</a>, isolations, and vaccinations.Soon after the pandemic emerged, medical professionals emphasized masking as a key way to slow the spread of the virus.The face coverings quickly became a contentious cultural topic and among the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trumps-decision-to-oppose-masks-bizarre-self-sabotaging-coronavirus-pandemic-2020-6">most politicized aspects</a> of COVID. But these days, even many who once championed masks have ditched the deterrent entirely. An August 2023 Yahoo News/YouGov <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/only-12-percent-of-americans-wear-mask-in-public-194019882.html">poll</a> of 1,665 US adults found that 12% of respondents said they were masking — down from 60% in January 2022. And doctors told BI that they've seen a steady decrease in masking since then."I think the public has appropriately adjusted their attitudes to what they hear in the news and what they see around them," said Dr. Edward Jones-Lopez, infectious disease specialist with Keck Medicine at the University of Southern California.More worrying to medical professionals is the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/covid-vaccine-us-vaccination-sites-joe-biden-2021-4">decline in vaccinations.</a>While early immunization rates helped bolster immunity, vaccination uptake has been on the decline in recent years, and fewer and fewer people are keeping up to date with their booster shots, a preventive step the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.cdc.gov/covid/vaccines/stay-up-to-date.html#:~:text=Everyone%20aged%205%20years%20and,of%20updated%20COVID%2D19%20vaccine.">CDC recommends</a> in its COVID guidelines.Most medical professionals also recommend a yearly COVID-19 vaccine. There's a new shot coming out in September. But Chow, who previously worked at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention at the height of the pandemic, said most people aren't aware of the recommended vaccine schedule — a challenge that is indicative of a larger problem doctors are trying to navigate in this new COVID age."People are much more fatigued by COVID messaging," he said. "We're trying to right-size the appropriate message to make sure people continue to acknowledge the health impacts of COVID."<h2 id="3c719499-920d-46e7-b315-35ec4a1cdc50">The long COVID scare</h2>Relaxed attitudes are not necessarily a bad thing, according to doctors."I think it's to be expected as we learn more about the virus over these four years and as we've developed these other COVID countermeasures to address infection," said Dr. Jessica Bender, a primary care doctor at Harbor View Medical in Seattle and the co-director at the university's long COVID clinic.On the one hand, people are generally not getting as sick as they once did when ill with COVID, medical professionals told BI. On the other hand, this summer seems to have brought yet another COVID surge with a spike in cases.People don't typically equate respiratory illnesses with the warmer months, but an increase in summer socializing combined with the general decrease in preventive measures is likely fueling the uptick, Bender said.For an unlucky subset of patients, a COVID diagnosis — even in this new relaxed era — could mean <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/long-covid-survivor-its-wrecked-my-life-2022-1">long-term challenges.</a>Doctors define long COVID as any infection related to the virus that is present for at least three months, said Chopra, who treats patients at the UW long COVID clinic. The often <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/healthcare-workers-nurses-long-covid-impact-careers-labor-shortage-2022-5">debilitating</a> condition is indiscriminate in who it affects. Up to 10% of all people who get COVID are susceptible, according to Chopra, and patients of all ages, genders, races, and vaccination statuses can present with long COVID.<div type="image" title="A young girl gets a COVID vaccine" height="2661" width="4000" msid="112065018" hostid="261" sizebytes="341938"></div>Even as the country relaxes its COVID response, doctors said they are still seeing many new patients presenting with long COVID each day. The condition has at least <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/common-long-covid-symptoms-hair-loss-vertigo-low-libido-2022-7">200 known signs and symptoms</a> that range from shortness of breath to chronic fatigue and brain fog.Doctors told BI they'd treated several patients who have been forced to <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/long-covid-symptoms-disability-insurance-unemployment-quit-job-2022-11">stop working</a> or rendered unable to participate in any physical activity because of a long COVID diagnosis. A 2023 <a target="_blank" href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9721155/">study</a> published in the National Library of Medicine explored a possible link between long COVID and the risk of suicide because of the condition's tendency to inflict depression, anxiety, posttraumatic symptoms, sleep disturbances, fatigue, and cognitive deficits.Medical professionals are doing their best to understand long COVID, but admit that there's still much to learn. According to the CDC, about 17 million people <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/covid19/pulse/long-covid.htm">reported</a> having long-term COVID-19 in March 2024.For these people, the pandemic is still very real."When I treat people with long COVID, they are always masked," Chopra said.<h2 id="c71342ed-0973-4d09-978b-dae3bd11fc3e">The future of COVID</h2>As doctors look to the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/red-cross-says-world-is-dangerously-unprepared-for-next-pandemic-2023-1">future</a> of COVID, little is for sure."We always say the one thing that is predictable about COVID is its unpredictability," Chow said.But medical professionals told BI they are optimistic that even as the virus continues to evolve, the next few years will continue to look like the past year, with small seasonal surges and hopefully less intense illness.While lax attitudes may be a welcome sign of a cautious new normal, doctors said it's important to remember the lessons we've collectively learned from COVID. The precautions that proved useful against the virus protect people from other illnesses, too.Just because the world has adapted to COVID-19, medical professionals say, doesn't mean we should drop the hygiene, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/air-circulation-coronavirus-how-to-judge-ventilation-systems-2020-8">ventilation</a>, and masking lessons learned along the way."We've learned so much about how we can protect ourselves," Chow said. "It's hard to see people leave some of those precautions behind."Doctors recommend people gauge their individual risk, as well as the risk of those close to them when considering which precautions to take in this new COVID age. Most medical professionals still recommend masking, testing, and visiting a doctor after testing positive."We're aiming to get to a state where COVID is not a threat to our healthcare system," Bender said. "And not a threat to our lives and livelihoods.

Most people don't really care about COVID anymore. That's good — and bad. 

<keyword id="3658" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="india" source="Orion">India</keyword> is a prime example of successfully growing a domestic pharmaceutical industry capable of meeting global supply needs, a top <keyword id="56000" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="UNICEF" source="Orion">UNICEF</keyword> official said. India can share its expertise and learnings from the model it used to foster the pharmaceutical industry with countries and regions trying to build capacities including how to incentivise the private sector, ensure regulatory and quality assurance systems in place and develop a globally competitive industry, Tara L Prasad, Senior Manager, <keyword id="17626198" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="centre-for-health-emergency-strategy" source="Orion">Centre for Health Emergency Strategy</keyword> and Partnerships at UNICEF, said. She is here to attend the third G20 Health Working Group meeting that is being held from June 4 to 6. "Further, India can share lessons on how to create an enabling environment, including investments in human and physical capital, as well as its learnings in moving beyond generic industry to expanding research and development innovator industry," Prasad said. The G20 more broadly can call upon its industry to ensure manufacturers include licensing and technology transfer for essential and emergency health supplies to different regions to ensure equitable access. On the key lessons learnt from the <keyword id="8764262" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="covid" source="Orion">COVID</keyword>-19 pandemic that can guide how G20 countries and the global health community collectively strengthen coordination for access to medical countermeasures, Prasad said Covid was unprecedented in its global scale, the novelty of the virus and the wide socio-economic repercussions and ripple effects it created. Looking at Covid, some key lessons are that equity needs to be considered from the start and across the value chain. And, secondly, low-and middle-income country stakeholders need to be involved from the onset to ensure access partnerships take into account the context and needs of the countries they aim to support, she said. "Thirdly, vaccines alone are not enough. We need a toolkit with many interventions including tests, treatments, personal protective equipment and ancillary supplies," she said. "Related to that, efforts need to be multi-sectoral considering the cascading effect of a health emergency - water, sanitation, hygiene and infection prevention control measures are equally important," Prasad stated. Manufacturing of medical countermeasures needs to be geographically diversified to ensure resilience against global shocks, reduced lead times during an outbreak, and increase overall regional and global health security. "We need more investments in research and development for priority pathogens including those with limited market size and limited R and D investments and to create more incentives for industry to engage and increase risk-sharing between public and private sectors," Prasad said. Strengthening health systems needs to be an integral part of preparedness, including strengthening primary health care systems at the community level, she said, adding this will ensure systems are better prepared to deliver novel medical countermeasures (MCMs) when they become available. "Community engagement is essential to reduce hesitancy and increase trust and uptake in MCMs," she stated. On critical components of the global MCM coordination, she said, "We have the opportunity to ensure the world emerges from the Covid pandemic stronger than before." The Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator - ACT-A - partnership is "an example of what is possible if we work together. Building on the collaboration and lessons learnt from ACT-A we are now in a position to reinvigorate efforts to ensure more equitable global health outcomes," she said. "We cannot let 'peacetime' between pandemics and largescale health emergencies result in complacency. For the next pandemic, the world will need a diversified vaccine and product portfolio, expanded production spread across the world, and stronger and more resilient health systems," she said. Equity needs to be at the heart of access to medical countermeasures, and the emphasis of global collaboration needs to prioritise reaching the vulnerable, the hardest to reach and the most underserved, including women and children, she said. 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