EXPLAINER: What does it mean for COVID-19 to be endemic?

By MARIA CHENG
AP Medical Writer

Some European countries such as Spain are making tentative plans for when they might start treating COVID-19 as an “endemic” disease, but the World Health Organization and other officials have warned that the world is nowhere close to declaring the pandemic over. Diseases are endemic when they occur regularly in certain areas according to established patterns. A pandemic refers to a global outbreak that causes unpredictable waves of illness. The COVID-19 vaccines, medicines and other measures widely available in rich countries will likely help them curb their outbreaks before the virus is brought under control globally. That could lead them to declare COVID-19 to be endemic within their own borders long before the pandemic is over worldwide.