Friedberg @ 00:47:45Right
health
COVID-19 (including variants such as Omicron) will remain an endemic disease for the foreseeable future (multi‑year horizon beyond 2021), requiring long‑term adaptation in how society operates rather than a quick, definitive end to the pandemic.
this is an endemic kind of circumstance. We're going to be in this for a while. And, um, you know, the circumstances are one that may kind of require, you know, an adaptation in terms of how we live and operate and especially as it relates to things that are so important, like keeping businesses open in schools.View on YouTube
Explanation
Evidence from 2022–2025 indicates that COVID-19 did in fact transition into a long‑term endemic (or effectively endemic) respiratory disease rather than ending quickly as an acute pandemic:
- In May 2023, the WHO ended the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency of International Concern, but explicitly stated that COVID-19 remains a global health threat and will require long‑term management, not eradication.【】
- By 2022–2025, major health bodies and reviews (e.g., Lancet, CDC, WHO) consistently described COVID-19 as moving into an endemic phase, with ongoing circulation, repeated waves, and the expectation of years of continued transmission managed via vaccination, updated boosters, antivirals, and non‑pharmaceutical interventions during surges.
- Society has made durable adaptations: widespread remote/hybrid work, updated building ventilation standards, periodic booster campaigns, routine COVID testing in some healthcare and institutional settings, and guidance to keep schools and businesses open while managing risk instead of broad, indefinite lockdowns. These are exactly the kinds of long‑term operational adaptations Friedberg described.
- As of late 2025, COVID-19 continues to cause seasonal and variant‑driven waves globally, similar to but more severe than typical endemic respiratory viruses, confirming it did not “end” within a short period after 2021 but instead persisted over a multi‑year horizon.
Given the continued global circulation of COVID-19 and the structural adaptations in how people work, study, and manage public health, Friedberg’s 2021 characterization that this would be an endemic circumstance we would be “in…for a while” and that it would “require…an adaptation in terms of how we live and operate” has been borne out by events. Therefore, the prediction is right.