“The COVID-19 pandemic is over and we are ‘post-pandemic’”

There have been multiple declarations that the pandemic is “over” — perhaps the most well-known was President Joe Biden’s declaration in 2022. When the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 to no longer be a global emergency, many misconstrued this to mean the pandemic is “over.” However, what was largely ignored was WHO then explaining COVID-19 continues to be a global threat, continues to kill and disable millions, and variants are still emerging.