Europe considers new COVID-19 strategy: accepting the virus

By ARITZ PARRA
Associated Press

MADRID (AP) — With one of Europe’s highest vaccination rates and its most pandemic-battered economies, the Spanish government is laying the groundwork for a new different COVID-19 playbook. The idea is to move from crisis mode to control mode, from pandemic to endemic, approaching the virus in much the same way countries deal with flu or measles. Similar steps are under consideration in Portugal and the United Kingdom, whose government says that the omicron wave has peaked. The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control expects more nations from the European Union to follow. The shift could mean changes in how new infections are recorded, tolerating contagion while providing extra care for at-risk people and patients with complications.