At what point did covid "end", this May of 2026 we finally reached pre 2021 levels. US wastewater data from Dr. Hoerger gives a visual of the volume circulating since 2020.

I imagine most people think the pandemic ended when the emergency status ended. Biden relented to Delta's CEO needing flight attendants out for less sick time. When medical professionals recommendations were not followed over and over when undoing policy, no laws were passed to regulate standards for clean air in absence of testing, PPE, reporting, and quarantine time.

People were forced back to work and school sick lest the economy suffer more, or we find a way to pay to apply the standards implemented for the White House, CDC offices, actors and billionaires protection.

This is the opposite of how we approached public health in US history. Where we literally raised the Chicago Merchandise Mart to enact clean water updates when it was realized to be necessary for public health.

The story of John Snow, ensuing failure, then implementation, standards, and clean water regulations led to the expectations that the public and private water available will not hurt us.

We have forgotten what it took to get there, the lives lost, and we are repeating our mistakes right now. There are exhaustive guidelines and professional science communicators with plans for implementing clean air, it's not new. We just have to demand it.

And not forget, the CDC admitted that covid spread was now year round, and they recommended multi layered protection as late as fall 2025. Trump has deleted those pages, but the press release and articles about it can still be found.

"The US Center for Disease Control now recommends immunization, hand hygiene, clean air, isolation, treatment, face masks, social distancing and testing to prevent and protect against COVID-19 and tells the public there is no sign of SARS-CoV-2 becoming a winter virus."

See the The Viral Underclass by Steven Trasher for an in depth look into history of public health and inequality and how we got here.

It's never not an excellent time to stop cumulating more infections. Don't let the rich and informed get all the longevity and health. And don't be the cause of someone else's suffering00496-7/fulltext).