Pandemic Over?

The World Health Organization (WHO) released a statement saying that the COVID emergency is over.

The WHO Director-General concurs with the advice offered by the Committee regarding the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. He determines that COVID-19 is now an established and ongoing health issue which no longer constitutes a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC).

https://www.who.int/news/item/05-05-2023-statement-on-the-fifteenth-meeting-of-the-international-health-regulations-(2005)-emergency-committee-regarding-the-coronavirus-disease-(covid-19)-pandemic

The logic is that hospitalizations and deaths due to COVID are low enough that it is no longer an emergency but a daily fact of life. Does that mean the most virulent strains are relatively harmless? Are recent mutations not as dangerous as previous strains like delta and omicron? Locally, I do not see many people wearing masks, even in healthcare settings, and the FDA/CDC has not approved the next vaccine booster for immunocompromised people

Per the WHO, there are still active cases and deaths from COVID, but just not like the past three years. This is data for the US:

Without context, the chart is just a visual aid. However, it represents three years of everyone’s lives, 765 million cases, and seven million deaths worldwide. I am sure the numbers are higher, mainly due to China’s fake numbers and underreporting by many other countries. That means on average, one out of ten people were infected, and one out of 100 people infected died.