August 1, 2023 – Schools are open, masks are off for many, and residents are hugging instead of bumping elbows; it is a stark contrast to the tentative uber-cautious reopening seen in 2022, following historic worldwide lockdowns because of COVID-19. Back then, masks were a strict requirement for many, social distancing was in effect and sanitizers were a must for entering any public building.

The message from the World Health Organization is that while Covid-19 is no longer a Public Health Emergency of International Concern, it’s still present and still deadly. Exacerbating that is the fact that the vaccines, which gave so many the confidence to interact freely with others, are known to wane and the waning effect of vaccines was of serious concern for Health professionals, and internationally, regionally and locally, the intake of boosters was heavily encouraged as a way to protect lives by lessening the severity of infection if it occurred. But booster uptake to strengthen vaccination has been extremely poor across the Caribbean region and generally low elsewhere, leaving residents vulnerable to infection.

The New York Times Vaccine Tracker says 72.2 percent of the world’s population was fully vaccinated but less than half that number had an additional dose (booster 1), and the number of people who progressed to the second booster is even lower.

Despite these obvious points of concern, there is evidence that residents at all levels are less restricted in 2023. In an absence of new variants of concern that are not offshoots of Omicron, many protocols have melted away and with them the rigid sense of vigilance against touching and interacting with others. This is despite the fact that many residents are technically barely protected against severe disease. Governments across the world have loosened COVID era rules for travel and spacing, from earlier countries like Jamaica and the Dominican Republic, to the more cautious and restriction heavy areas like China.

Also concerning is that as residents and governments have become more relaxed and data sources are disappearing. The White House Covid team in the US has been ended, Covid-19 charts in the Turks and Caicos are less frequent than before and authorities like the WHO are warning that residents are testing less and less. It means reporting is not as accurate as it was in the height of the pandemic.

While authorities still urge caution, it’s no longer enforced, rather encouraged. Cases globally are on the decline the WHO says but they also say “currently, reported cases do not accurately represent infection rates due to the reduction in testing and reporting globally.