In the beginning,the emergence of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, did not seem to pose a major threat to the world.

However, by March 2020, the situation had changed drastically. As the highly contagious and fatal virus spread across the globe, it became evident that extreme global actions had to be taken.

On March 11, 2020, World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus announced the pandemic and the US and the rest of the world quickly implemented various measures to contain the virus.Now, three years later, the US is in a better condition.Vaccines are widely accessible and the virus, along with its mutations, are not as deadly as they were.There is now a light at the end of the tunnel.

Although 2023 is much brighter than 2020, the tragic lessons of COVID-19, which has claimed the lives of more than 1 millionTrusted Source Americans, will be remembered for a long time.

The average American was not particularly worried about the threat of COVID-19 in the beginning of 2020.Although the 1918 flu pandemic had faded from living memory, COVID-19 soon showed that it was a unique virus.

As of the end of March 2020, the US had seen in excess of 100,000 cases, with a death toll of 1,500.

Many of these regulations had adverse consequences. For example, while educational institutions were kept remote and shut, certain large cities still allowed indoor congregations for meals or amusement without consistent mask regulations. This caused great difficulties for parents who had to work, resulting in a disruption of the workforce.

It is likely that the funds used for the COVID-19 response would have been more effective if they had been used towards providing better ventilation in buildings, elevated quality masks, increased household tests, and more secure workplace leave policies for quarantine and isolation, thus providing more dependability for laborers.

We gave the states the task of responding to the pandemic, yet what we required was a strong, unified leadership, instead of the chaos that ensued. This communication should be led by public health experts and the CDC, while politicians should help make it successful.

Thanks to the effectiveness of vaccinations, and the natural immunity that has developed within the population, the impact of COVID-19 has been reduced. Cases are generally less severe, and a large portion of the population has been vaccinated. This has enabled us to better manage the virus, as it has been running rampant among those who had no natural immunity. New variants may arise, but we are now better prepared to face them.

"Unfortunately, a knowledge of the history of infectious diseases has shown us that COVID-19 does not have the features of an eradicable virus," said Gandhi. A recent studyTrusted Source has discovered that those who have had the virus or one of its variants are generally shielded from reinfection for 40 weeks. In effect, the immunity gained from being infected is comparable to the protection conferred by two doses of the vaccine. Despite the pandemic finally subsiding to an endemic level, the virus will still remain.