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Comment by thunderbird120 | Hacker News Reader

I don't think there are any serious groups which are not acting like the pandemic is over by all practical standards.

Variants descended from the Spanish flu still infect and kill people but that pandemic is not ongoing. The point at which it made sense to accept even very mild disruptions to daily life due to COVID has passed and nearly everyone understands that.

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FYI: It started in Kansas - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_flu

Another fun fact: Old-style radiators were developed so you could have heat and open windows, b/c ventilation and pandemics: https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/apartment-radiator-pandemi...

The pandemic is over, but the economical damage is permanent. Cost of living is rising and never going back. Small and medium businesses are closing while enterprises are cutting head counts.

When WWII ended, the changes it made to the world never reverted to the prior status. Also, the rest of history since then has been completely dominated by the effects of WWII and its continuity including the very next wars such as conflicts in Israel, Korea, cold-war, and more. There was no point where the issues really ended, but we do reasonably say that WWII ended. What came next and later was something distinct enough that we consider it something else.

What we have in covid reality today is a continued world with covid existing and a ton of irreversible changes that covid time made to the world. But that's not denied when people say the pandemic is over.

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