--- title: Pandemics Don't Really End—They Echo description: As cases rise again, it's clear that the COVID-19 pandemic will continue to shape American life for years to come. canonical: https://time.com/6307629/covid-19-pandemic-over-essay/ author: TIME article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2023-08-28T09:00:00.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:06:03.509Z article:section: Ideas og:title: Pandemics Don't Really End—They Echo og:description: As cases rise again, it's clear that the COVID-19 pandemic will continue to shape American life for years to come. og:url: https://time.com/6307629/covid-19-pandemic-over-essay/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte2597a6e6fe85b6d/698a3fced075338703e6e521/GettyImages-1489206278.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: Federal COVID-19 Public Health Emergency Ends In The United States og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Pandemics Don't Really End—They Echo twitter:description: As cases rise again, it's clear that the COVID-19 pandemic will continue to shape American life for years to come. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte2597a6e6fe85b6d/698a3fced075338703e6e521/GettyImages-1489206278.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Pandemics Don't Really End—They Echo > Sponsored content. 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It explains how TIME's journalism is made, from the first pitch through the editorial decisions behind a finished story or cover. #### How can I read about how TIME chooses its covers? Inside TIME is the newsletter where TIME's Editor-in-Chief explains cover selection and the editorial reasoning behind major stories. It is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who is the editor of TIME? Sam Jacobs is TIME's Editor-in-Chief. He writes Inside TIME, a twice-weekly newsletter about the newsroom's reporting and editorial decisions. #### Is Inside TIME free? Yes. Inside TIME is a free newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and available at time.com/subscribe-agent. ## Video: It's Been a Pretty Rocky Road.' CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky Reflects on Her Tenure During COVID-19 [Watch (HLS stream): It's Been a Pretty Rocky Road.' CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky Reflects on Her Tenure During COVID-19](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/YaLbk7xu.m3u8) (8:52)  _Published 2023-06-27. Dr. Rochelle Walensky became director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in January 2021, a fraught time in the country’s public health response to the COVID-19 pandemic._ by [Brian Michael Jenkins](https://time.com/author/brian-michael-jenkins/) ## Brian Michael Jenkins Aug 28, 2023 9:00 AM UTC  A face mask sign is displayed in a window along Roosevelt Avenue, which passes through the neighborhoods of Elmhurst, Corona and Jackson Heights, areas that witnessed some of the highest numbers of Covid-19 cases and deaths on May 11, 2023 in the Queens borough of New York City. The Biden administration officially ended the nation’s Covid-19 public health emergency on Thursday. A face mask sign is displayed in a window along Roosevelt Avenue, which passes through the neighborhoods of Elmhurst, Corona and Jackson Heights, areas that witnessed some of the highest numbers of Covid-19 cases and deaths on May 11, 2023 in the Queens borough of New York City. The Biden administration officially ended the nation’s Covid-19 public health emergency on Thursday. Spencer Platt-Getty Images by [Brian Michael Jenkins](https://time.com/author/brian-michael-jenkins/) ## Brian Michael Jenkins Aug 28, 2023 9:00 AM UTC The public health emergency related to the COVID-19 pandemic officially ended on May 11, 2023\. It was a purely administrative step. Viruses do not answer to government decrees. Reported numbers were declining, but then started[ coming up](https://time.com/6301072/rising-covid-19-cases-booster-shot/) again during the summer. By August, hospital admissions climbed to more than 10,000 a week. This was nowhere near the 150,000 weekly admissions recorded at the peak of the pandemic in January 2022. The [new variant](https://time.com/6308418/ba-2-86-covid-19-variant-vaccine/) is more contagious. It is not yet clear whether it is more lethal. Nor is it clear whether the recent rise is a mere uptick or foreshadows a more serious surge. More than 50,000 COVID-19 deaths have been reported in the U.S. in 2023\. Somehow, this has come to be seen as almost normal. Even while health authorities are keeping their eyes on new “variables of concern,” for much of the public COVID has been cancelled. The news media have largely moved on to other calamities. The pandemic is over. Is it? History shows that pandemics have ragged endings. Some return again and again. The Justinian Plague that swept through the Roman Empire in the 6th century returned in waves over the next 200 years. The Black Death that killed half the population of Europe between 1347 and 1351 came back more than 40 times over the next 400 years. **_Read More:_** [**_Will the New Vaccine Work Against the Latest Variant?_**](https://time.com/6308418/ba-2-86-covid-19-variant-vaccine/) The effect of the COVID-19 pandemic will be felt long after the last rapid test comes back positive. Millions today are still suffering from “[long COVID](https://time.com/6300119/long-covid-treatment-studies/)”—a range of medical conditions that can appear long after the initial infection. This concept can be applied to the whole of society. Pandemics have always frayed the social fabric, disrupted economies, deepened social divides, and intensified prejudices, leaving behind psychological scars—all of which have lasting political repercussions. Angered by the British crown’s attempt to restore the inequalities of the pre-pandemic feudal system, which had been weakened by the massive depopulation caused by the plague, English peasants marched on London and nearly brought down the king. Repeated waves of cholera in Europe during the 19th century increased social tensions and contributed to growing class warfare. A sharp increase in labor strife followed the 1918 flu pandemic. Today, society seems similarly on edge and quick to violence, an observation that was also made about medieval society following the plague. The U.S. homicide rate in 2020 and 2021 increased by nearly 40 percent. It appears to have come down in some cities, but violent crime remains above pre-pandemic levels. Mass shootings have hit an all-time high, while random unprovoked aggression has increased in public spaces. The pandemic is not entirely to blame, but it has likely been a contributing factor. Many Americans quit their [jobs](https://time.com/6051955/work-after-covid-19/) after the pandemic. Others are refusing to give up [working from home](https://time.com/6243148/working-from-home-is-the-trend-of-the-year-and-next-year-too/). The so-called great resignation appears to be ending, but the labor militancy that featured in post-pandemic societies continues. While the COVID-19 pandemic comes nowhere near the depopulation effects of the plague, it emptied the sidewalks in many major American cities. Office buildings have fewer workers. Restaurants have lost business. It is not uncommon to see rows of boarded up retail shops. COVID does not get all the blame. The rise in crime in many city centers keeps many away. Urban geography may be permanently altered. As it often did after past pandemics, pessimism pervades the post-pandemic moodscape. Its explanation lies beyond the pathogens. A Biblical host of natural and man-made disasters—pestilence, war, famine, floods, drought, fire, contribute to a sense of foreboding. The 1918 flu pandemic left a legacy of distrust in institutions and each other, which was passed down to children and grandchildren, COVID may have similar long-term effects. Americans are a cantankerous lot, increasingly suspicious of malevolent motives behind anything government does. Partisan news outlets look for conflict and stoke outrage. In past pandemics, conspiracy theories flourished, often blaming immigrants and Jews. So too, some COVID conspiracy theories suggest that the virus was designed to kill Whites or Blacks, while sparing Asians and Jews. Nothing changes. Some believe the government created the pandemic hoax or deliberately misled the public about the seriousness of the situation. They argue that needless lockdown orders and business shutdown ruined the economy; providing financial relief to businesses and families opened the way for massive corruption and left the country with insupportable debt; mask and vaccine mandates were assaults on personal liberty for the benefit of big Pharma profits. Some still claim that the vaccines themselves rivaled the virus in their lethality. Defiance has been elevated to patriotism. Owing to response measures, improved medications, life-saving procedures for treating critically-ill patients, and the rapid availability of a vaccine, the outbreak did not replicate the death tolls of previous pandemics. Although it sounds perverse, saving lives ended up contributing to the controversy. Simply put: _The pandemic was not deadly enough_. The 2nd century Antonine Plague killed a quarter of the Roman Empire’s population. The 6th century Justinian plague killed half the population of Europe. According to some historians, the first wave of the plague in the 14th century again wiped out half of Europe’s inhabitants. COVID has [killed](https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html) more than a million Americans, roughly a third of one percent—or about the same percentage of the population killed in World War II. As a percentage of the total population, the 1918 flu was twice as deadly. The demographics of the death toll are important. The 1918 flu killed many younger people—those 25-40 years old accounted for 40% of the fatalities—while COVID killed mainly older Americans, as three-quarters of the dead were 65 or older. Those under 40 accounted for just 2.5% of the fatalities. Some questioned why the country’s well-being should be jeopardized to save the elderly, many of whom already had other afflictions anyway. Expressed in the cruelest terms, nature was culling the herd. Indeed, some of the same groups that during earlier debates about national health care expressed outrage at the prospect of _death panels_ “pulling the plug on grandma” suggested during the pandemic that the elderly would be willing to die to save the economy. The COVID pandemic lacked visual impact. Except for those directly affected, COVID’s toll remained abstract. There was no modern equivalent of town criers calling “Bring out your dead” accompanied by carts making the rounds to collect corpses. Had COVID led to bodies piled in the streets, shared dread might have outweighed our differences. As it turned out, we had the science to address the pandemic. What we lacked was the social accord. Discord continues in the political arena. The tradeoffs between preserving individual rights and protecting the public are legitimate areas to explore, but rather than looking for lessons to be learned, some politicians appear determined to settle scores. [Pandemic disputes](https://time.com/6264942/political-battle-over-pandemic-memory/) will almost certainly feature in the 2024 presidential election. Any future outbreak of disease will likely again see cable news, the internet, and social media play major roles in shaping the information individuals choose in their decision making. This will inevitably make emergency control measures more difficult to impose. COVID’s biggest political casualty may be governability itself. We are unable to join hands to remember the more than a million Americans that have succumbed to the virus—that are succumbing still. We cannot express a nation’s gratitude to the scientists, public health officials, and heroic frontline health workers, thousands of whom died saving lives during the pandemic. Stuck in the well-worn paths of previous pandemic prejudices and conspiracy theory re-runs, we cannot come together to mourn our losses and celebrate our survival. There will be no collective thanksgiving, no elegies, no closure. As we have seen time and time again throughout human history, pandemics do not end—they echo. ## Transcript I knew I had a hard task ahead of me. I did not go into this naive. Not not all the things that I thought would be hard, work, hard and things that I didn't expect to be hard ended up being harder. I did not expect the sort of that there would be so many people who were working to undermine the methods of science. The message of Public Health in Ferris actors who really were working to undermine what good health would look like for individuals and for the country that was harder than I thought it would be. Give me what we have now. The vaccines you do natural immunity from people who are getting exposed infected as well. And now drugs, if you mentioned up where should we be in a much better place than we are now in terms of the pandemic or are we were, you would think we should be two and a half years? Three years into the pandemic? Well, I would say we are in a much better place than we were for sure. Are with over 95% of people having a munity of one flavor, or the another, and many people have immunity both related to Prior vaccination or prior infection. I'm so a lot of protection out there, but we also know, as with all respiratory viruses, they are likely to circulate some, they may very well circulate a little bit more over the fall. When respiratory virus is 10 to thrive and weird cities, he will continue to be. So Gillette take out the message out of all the things that people can do to protect themselves. And I think the public now knows what those things are information. I think in general undermining, we can do what we were working to do to get people out of the pandemic to get People Protected. I'm and now also. I see no blood into pediatric vaccination as well. And so are, you know, when vaccine is like a Cornerstone of what we do in prevention and prevention of infectious threats and that by its very nature, not just in covid been another things is being challenged, I don't know that we could have rewound, the clock, two and a half years ago and said, this incredible thing that we are celebrating with how well this vaccine worked and how this was really going to be among the most important things to get us out of this. Pandemic does that, what is somehow turned into people weaponizing it for political gain when it comes to we really had messages from from a group, right? The briefings came from the White House. Dr. Fauci at NIH HHS and sometimes the Surgeon General as well as you Spell, funeralized director of the CDC. How did that decision to make it a group in a briefing versus? Did you argue for example, that the CDC should be the voice that there should be a single voice and would not have helped in terms of reducing some of the confusion and the misperception there, if the public had kind of one place to go? Yeah, I think one could say that, you know, how did that? How was it? How were those decisions made it was intentional because very much we were all on the same page and we wanted to make sure that America heard that all of us were on the same page that the scientists it. And I ate and the Surgeon General and HHS and CDC, we were in agreement with the things that we were staying and that unit to find message. I think is really critically important, especially when the other message out there was this is confusing. So, we really wanted to have one voice. One scientific voice from the scientific agencies. You have said that something like covid-19 is too big for a single agency, like CBC to manage alone. And that, you know, you can't make us there can't be a good solution in isolation. Like an agency can act and isolation, I wonder if you can comment on and help the public better understand what the CDC can and cannot do. You know, I think a lot of the criticism of the agency has come from expectations that the public had, you know, on what the CDC should be doing or telling them, I wonder, if you could help us understand a bit like a better understanding of what the agency 10 doing, what, I can't, I really appreciate this question because I think that this is lost on not only every day, I know the American public but even scientists who are engaged and asking for, for things from CBC. So I guess, and this is among the things we are doing so much work and CDC moving forward, but among the things, Graphing for Congressional help on so that we can be a Nimble agency. We have real challenges in our Workforce and the authorities that we have in our work force, our ability to pay overtime, our ability to pay danger, pay if we have an employee, that is working in a bowl of lading District, you know, helping a community. We can't do those sorts of things. It is very hard to be nimble with a response based work for us when we don't have a capacity weigh other response, based agencies have so Workforce has a real challenge. The other one has data, we do not we receive data voluntarily at CDC though. We have 3000 jurisdictions, that send us data sometimes it's standardized. Sometimes it's not sometimes it comes back, sometimes my email sometimes by web. So there are lots of different ways that we receive data and we cannot compel that day that Thursday that have come to us during the public health emergency. We were able to get more data because of the public health emergency, but one of the things I really have become accustomed to saying is when people ask, we want to see the data from CDC. Please also asked the question, the CDC actually, opted, get the data that you're looking to get from CDC. Because oftentimes, we don't, I'm, and that is really, we, we want those dated to come in a privacy protected way. We don't want an individual information, but we do want to be able to stay in jurisdiction acts. There's an outbreak next to in jurisdiction. Why? You should be looking for it too. If those data don't come to us and CDC, we can't put it back out to to Jose Tequilas at the state and local Health departments and you held the agency. You know what, you said a very historic moment and arguably, we're kind of at the tail end of that. Now, why did you decide now is the time to step down while? So it's been it's been an extraordinary 10 year when I came in, it was really about getting the agency to country in the world out of the darkest days. The pandemic we have been conquering race of infectious threats. I think unlike any we have seen throughout history, certainly, I knew I was coming into a conqueror covid-19 and Alta monkeypox came first, a case of parallel polio in the country. Assumed an ebola outbreak in Uganda to Marburg. Outbreaks in Equatorial, Guinea in Tanzania. The rate of Public Health. Threats has really been enormous over the last two-and-a-half years. One of the other things that we really did during my tenure was CDC moving forward, and that is sort of our strategy and plan for how we take, where we are in public health at CDC, and across the country, and payment to be the public health agency of the future. What is said that we've the lessons that we learn CDC has been around only for 76 years. They weren't around for the last pandemic. I'm so what is it that we have learned? How do we become the public health agency? That the America deserves and desires until we did a lot of that work over the last year. And I feel like I've charted the course. Now for what we need to do in the future, much of that work has already been accomplished done, is is ongoing. And you know what became very clear to me was that this work will take longer than a year. It'll take longer than two. We need to be able to be adaptable as new scientific movies or merge. And so, it's important to me, was to have a legacy where I talked about what do we need to be doing, what is the this inflection point? And so we want that. But I also think that we have done a lot of work in the agency to demonstrate where you know where we can fill voids and communication and fill it with important scientific information. So that when that void is there that we filled it before some nefarious actor may come in and fill it for us until I think of that has been critically important. This is going to be something that we have to keep a very close eye on because Are people who are very much want to undermine and it's not the CDC and it's not just NIH. It is all of Academia and all of science. 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