Within a few years, COVID-19 may behave like other coronaviruses, which usually result in milder colds. The virus will probably affect young children to a greater extent who haven’t yet had the virus or been vaccinated, says Ottar Bjørnstad, a professor at Penn State University in the US, to Titan.uio.no.
So far, humans have managed to eradicate only one infectious disease: smallpox.
The coronavirus may end up being endemic. It will then not disappear completely but circulate in parts of the global population and remain at a stable level.
Nils Chr. Stenseth says it is difficult to say for certain whether the virus will be eradicated. But he is pretty convinced that the coronavirus is here to stay.
“It is very difficult to eradicate this kind of virus. We could perhaps almost eradicate it in our part of the world, especially in Norway. But the virus will always be imported again, and in large parts of the world, such as Africa, there are few vaccines available. The virus may continue to exist in some parts of the world with a very high probability,” Stenseth said.
