The arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic forced the globe to enter a "new normal" while we combat the prevalence of a fatal respiratory illness. As an effective vaccine has begun to be disseminated across the globe, many are beginning to ask when we will return to the old normal. According to Dr. Anthony Fauci, MD, we may throw away our face masks before the end of 2021.
Fauci's Prediction on the Globe Returning to Normal
In 2019, it was rare to come across any individual outside the field of healthcare sporting a face mask. Since early 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic commenced on a high note, protective face coverings have become nearly common as clothes.
Courtesy of the release of a novel coronavirus vaccine, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) director now thinks of a clearer time frame of what is imminent in the advent of the pandemic.
Although he earlier cautioned that simply getting vaccinated does not equate to immediately tossing your Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) out, as getting an adequate amount of the population inoculated is what will bring about the end of the safety guidelines we are required to follow, reported BestLife.
Masks, including masks made out of cloth, are among the most efficient and effective tools we have in mitigating the virus's prevalence. Aside from protecting us from contracting the coronavirus, if we are already infected, they alleviate us from transmitting it to other people, reported Eat This, Not That.
On Monday, the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine started being administered to people in the United States. We are currently grappling with the worst surge of the pandemic thus far, considering the number of hospitalizations, confirmed cases, and fatalities breaking records daily. The public is anticipating that the trajectory of the virus and its ravaging of humanity will change course soon and for life to return to normal.
Rolling out a vaccine to every person who wants to be administered will take months in the United States, not to mention the rest of the globe. While vaccines are vital tools for combatting a pandemic like COVID-19, they do not fix everything.
"People shouldn't think of vaccines as the savior. Vaccines are, along with hygienic measures, a way to get in control of this virus, but we need both. Vaccines are not going to be magical... You can't abandon one in favor of the other," according to Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and a professor of vaccinology at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, reported USA Today.
According to Fauci during a video conference at a Center for Strategic and International Studies, "I don't believe we're going to be able to throw the masks away and forget about physical separation in congregate settings for a while, probably likely until we get into the late fall and early next winter, but I think we can do it."
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