The birth of an endemic
On 11 th of March, 2020 much of the world started using a word previously consigned to movies and games: pandemic. The World Health Organisation declared COVID19, a disease caused by a novel Coronavirus, a pandemic due to “ alarming levels of spread and severity, and … alarming levels of inaction”(1). “ Pandemic refers to an epidemic that has spread over several countries or continents, usually affecting a large number of people”(2). Many countries declared various states of emergencies and put their populations into “lockdown” mode. Travel stopped. Economies shut down. Emergency bail-outs were given in higher-income countries to keep people from going bankrupt while they shored up at home to “flatten the curve.” Health workers in several countries or cities were overwhelmed or infected but kept going and were lauded as heroes (in some places) – while wondering if they themselves would contract severe disease or run out of ve...