WHO just said COVID restrictions won’t be needed by 2022

A sustained six-week decline in daily coronavirus cases in the United States has many experts optimistic that we have reached a major turning point in the pandemic. While experts say wearing masks and social distancing are still essential, according to a representative of the World Health Organization (WHO), it may not be much longer before we have no more need COVID restrictions. Read on to see when the organization says we can get back to normal, and to see what you can after vaccination, see Dr. Fauci just confirmed that you can do this after being vaccinated.

In an interview with the Danish state press service DR on February 21, Hans kluge, MD, WHO regional director for Europe, said he believes COVID-19 will continue to be a major problem throughout this year. But, he said, outbreaks will be much easier to manage than they were in 2020 and will continue to decrease in severity, Turkish state press service Anadolu Agency reported. He added that for this reason, the public health precautions currently in place could likely be safely removed by early 2022.

“There will continue to be a virus, but I don’t think any restrictions will be necessary,” Kluge said. “It’s an optimistic message.” And for Fauci’s prediction on one restriction in particular, check out Dr. Fauci Just Said Exactly When We Don’t Need Masks No Longer.

Kluge remained cautiously optimistic, saying he believed the worst outbreaks were behind us, in large part thanks to new treatments and the knowledge we have to counter any new outbreaks. Still, he warned that the vaccination process had to be completed, citing that the next major problem would likely arise when those vaccinated began to mingle with those who were not vaccinated.

The director also stressed that while new, highly contagious variants of the virus could strain some countries and still need to be monitored, he was confident that existing vaccines would still be able to provide the protection needed to prevent serious illness. And to learn more about the prevalence of cases where you live, find out how severe the COVID outbreak is still in your condition.

While the WHO may have offered an optimistic outlook on the months ahead, others have recently argued that the timeline could be considerably shorter. In an editorial published in The Wall Street Journal February 18, Marty makary, MD, a surgeon and professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and the Bloomberg School of Public Health, argued that “there is reason to believe the country is heading towards an extremely low level of infection,” predicting that “on the current trajectory, I expect COVID to mostly disappear by April, allowing Americans to resume normal lives.”

However, Makary’s argument that widespread natural immunity would quickly lead to a return to normality was not long in sparking controversy. “I’m not sure that’s herd immunity we’re talking about,” White House COVID adviser Anthony Fauci, MD, said of the editorial during an appearance on NBC’s Meet the press February 21. He went on to explain that the drop in cases means we are “probably seeing the natural peak and going back down” because of a holiday-fueled surge. And for more information on COVID delivered straight to your inbox, sign up for our daily newsletter.

Despite the WHO prediction, other experts share the idea that the virus itself will probably never really go away. During an appearance on CBS Face the nation, Scott Gottlieb, MD, former Food and Drug Administration (FDA) commissioner, said, “I don’t really think we’ll ever achieve true herd immunity,” warning that “it won’t be like measles or smallpox where she COVID will continue to circulate at a low level. “

This warning has also been issued previously by other experts in the face of highly contagious mutated versions of the virus. “There are serious concerns with the spread of new variants of COVID-19, achieving the collective immunity necessary to end the pandemic could be difficult, if not impossible,” Christopher Murray, MD, director of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington, said in a statement on Feb.4. “While it is possible to achieve collective immunity by next winter, it seems increasingly unlikely that we will do so, and in light of this, we all need to change our expectations.” And for more on when another spike in cases could arrive, check out This is exactly when we’ll see the next wave of COVID, experts warn.