WACO, Texas — Many Americans are confused after President Joe Biden said "the pandemic is over" during a '60 Minutes' interview. It aired just a few days after WHO Director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus made a very different statement.
"We are not there yet, but the end is in sight," he said.
So is the pandemic over? To answer that, we have to know what exactly a pandemic is.
Webster's Dictionary defines it as "an outbreak of a disease that occurs over a wide geographic area and affects a significant proportion of the population".
While COVID-19 can still be found all over the world, cases have dropped drastically.
Local health experts told 25 News by definition the pandemic may be over, but the virus is still very active in our area.
"We are in this stage where COVID-19 is getting more endemic in the area, but it's still not at a manageable level," Vaidehi Shah with the McLennan County Health District said.
There were 43 cases of COVID-19 reported in McLennan County on Monday. The number is down from 104 on the same day last year.
Shah said we are on the right track, but not in the clear just yet.
"We still have this threat of a new variant that may come in the fall or maybe in the next few years which may again disrupt our lives," she said.
She said the best way to prevent that from happening is to get vaccinated.