SALISBURY, Md.- As cases of COVID-19 drop across much of the United States and Delmarva, many in Salisbury, including Spencer Tilghman are feeling hopeful.
“I’m very happy about it. I’m a student and also an actor at Salisbury University and other places locally and I was in a play last fall and unfortunately we had to wear masks for the whole play per regulation so hopefully as cases go down we won’t have to do that and we can put on a show as normal”
Anthony Moore is hopeful too, and looking forward to the pandemic to end.
“I’m ready to get back to normal. It’s too long, I mean I know everyone got different opinions about it,” said Moore. “I kind of feel hopeful about it but like, it’s been going on so long you kind of don’t know what’s gonna happen next winter or something like that”.
Dr. John Fink from Bayhealth says there is cause for hope.
"I think hopeful is a good word. We have to have hope. I think we have lost a little bit of that over the last two years. So every time we see a decline in cases, every time we see some improvements, opening things up, that is always a good sign of hope," said Fink.
Dr. Jim Trumble from TidalHealth agrees.
“Certainly we’re seeing significant improvements there so yeah certainly there is hope that this will come into fruition in the coming weeks but, there is probably going to be some level of an endemic there so I don’t think you’re ever going to see the COVID virus going away entirely,” says Trumble.
Trumble says despite feeling hopeful, COVID-19 could be with us long into the future.
“I think the way this is going we’re going to have some yearly version, just like we do with the flu, tailored to what we’re seeing with the variants that are getting passed around the world just like the flu with the flu. So that is certainly the direction this is going,” said Trumble.
Fink calls this the 'endemic phase'.
The best way to explain a endemic is to just give the example of the flu. Which is something that is just around and we exist with the flu and we have for many many years. When strains of the flu come out that are more infections that we don't have natural immunity against, that's when we get a pandemic," said Fink.
Both doctors stressed to WBOC the importance of vaccination in the fight against COVID-19.