We may think we're done with COVID-19, but COVID-19 is not done with us

As we approach a new presidency, a new Congress and new leaders in our health agencies, I am concerned that the sense of urgency about COVID-19 appears to have faded. The disease has not been discussed during the election season, even though it is an ongoing and developing public health threat.

I believe this is a dangerous mindset. The reality is that COVID-19 remains a unique and deadly threat for many people — it is not just another respiratory virus, and should not be treated as such by our leaders.

I am the CEO and co-founder of biopharmaceutical InflaRx. But I am also an intensive care physician and researcher active in the immunology field. I have worked in the ICU. The reality is clear: We may be done with COVID-19, but COVID-19 is not done with us.

The virus continues to cause fatalities, even outside of the traditional respiratory season. During the summer of 2024, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that COVID-19 killed thousands, with about 4,200 reported deaths in August alone. As of October, some 40,000 Americans have lost their lives to COVID-19 in 2024.

A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in May 2024 found that in the fall and winter of 2023-2024, the risk of death in patients hospitalized with COVID-19 was greater than the risk of death in patients hospitalized for seasonal influenza. On Sept. 28, 2024, the CDC reported that COVID-19 hospitalizations continued to outpace flu and RSV hospitalizations combined.

Despite these facts, the CDC website now groups COVID-19 with flu and RSV, stating that “while COVID-19 still poses a significant threat to people at higher risk, its health impact is now similar to other respiratory viruses, like flu, which are also important causes of illness and death, especially for people at higher risk.” I believe this positioning is dangerously complacent and sends the wrong message to those responsible for guiding us through public health challenges.

As we approach a new presidential administration and a new Congress, we cannot regard COVID-19 as one of several respiratory diseases that can be dealt with through a vaccination program and other measures. COVID-19 requires special attention from the new administration, federal health agencies and lawmakers. They need to remember and treat COVID-19 as having different characteristics compared to other respiratory diseases and manage it for what it is — a virus that caused the most extended pandemic in over a century, with a significant death toll that continues to take lives every day.

Our knowledge of the disease continues to evolve. We still do not fully understand it or the best way to treat it. For example, long COVID, which is estimated to affect 5.3 percent of U.S. adults in the U.S. (13.5 million people), poses potentially serious and debilitating long-term health issues such as fatigue, brain fog and uncontrolled blood pressure.

We must not abandon the tools, therapies and strategies we’ve developed to prevent and fight it. That means we must ensure the availability of at-home tests, educate the public and medical community on diagnosis and treatment options (both outside and inside the hospital), be tolerant of people who still seek to protect themselves by wearing masks, and continue to support and fund research into new treatments and vaccines.

We may be tired of COVID-19 but the number of deaths we are seeing should not be regarded by our leaders in Washington and in the states as acceptable. COVID-19 requires ongoing vigilance, early diagnosis, timely treatment through all the stages of disease progression and continued research.

Our political and medical leaders must continue to pay attention to what we learned from the pandemic and must assure that we all are taking the needed steps, to protect not only ourselves but also future generations.

Niels Riedemann, M.D., is trained intensive care physician and general surgeon who leads a large academic ICU in Germany. He is the co-founder and CEO of InflaRx, a Nasdaq-listed biotech company.