"Endemic Delusion".
Used to describe the delusional belief that the pandemic is over and that we can get back to 2019 life by suppressing the fact that we need to keep innovating and fight the virus.
Best exemplified by Denmark 👇
Denmark effectively declared the pandemic over ~2 weeks ago, declassified the virus so it's no longer a "critical disease", and ended all restrictions.
This is despite the fact that cases, hospitalizations, and test positivity are higher than ever - with deaths rapidly rising.
Yet, all of this is basically ignored by Danish media by now - mostly via:
1. Focusing on ICU numbers - which are stable, however, ignoring the fact that deaths are going up.
2. Endlessly focusing on "with COVID" vs "for COVID", ignoring the fact that it's all "COVID".
As I have said previously, I disagree with the Danish approach, but choosing a strategy is far from easy. However, whatever the strategy, it *must* be based on realistic expectations and not delusion - sadly, the strategy in Denmark is based on the latter.
The issue is that if we simply declare the pandemic over - when that is very much not the case - we stop innovating and fighting, which will only prolong the pandemic and make it worse.
We need to innovate our way out of this - better vaccines, drugs, masks, tests, and systems!