Mexico City, Mexico — A rebound in coronavirus infections is inevitable, like with other global diseases, where seasonal waves are experienced. On Tuesday, Hugo López-Gatell, Undersecretary of Health Prevention and Promotion, said that covid-19 will stay forever, but is unlikely to cause major damage.
“The endemic status of Covid-19 does not mean the end of the epidemic (…) the disease is no longer unusual or emergent; all over the world periods or waves towards the seasonal phase will begin,” he posted on social media.
During the Tuesday morning press conference out of Mexico City, López-Gatell explained that “covid is going to stay forever, but the positive news, which is very important to take into account, is that it goes from being a high-damage disease with high virulence, with a high capacity to cause serious damage and death, to a disease of minor damage and less transmissibility, that is what we are seeing with the Omicron variant.”
His message was made after more than half of the Mexican states recorded an increase in covid-19 infections. On Monday, Mexico’s Ministry of Health reported an increase in 20 states.
“We have never said that the epidemic is over. What we have said, as well as European nations, the WHO and several other countries, is that the epidemic, the unusual state, the emerging situation, we could already consider that it is no longer unusual, it is no longer emerging,” he reiterated Tuesday.
He explained that diseases that are transmitted through the respiratory tract and by viral causes tend to remain forever, such as influenza adding that covid, in its endemic stage, will manifest itself by seasons.
“There will begin to be some waves that will increasingly enter a seasonal phase, most likely between October and March, and in one or two years we will have more regularity in this seasonal presentation, this is conjecture, it is hypothetical,” he explained.
López-Gatell said that vaccines have contributed to the lack of serious cases and hospitalizations, which is why, he says, booster shots are recommended.
“The behavior is of low virulence and the key piece is to get vaccinated,” he said.