Hello. This is 6 Minute English
from BBC Learning English.
I'm Sam.
And I'm Neil.
In March 2020, the World Health
Organisation, the WHO,
declared Covid-19 a pandemic.
Now, after two and half years in the
shadow of Covid, for many people travel
restrictions are ending, and many people
around the world are
starting their lives again.
But not everyone.
Whether it's because of
lockdowns and not seeing friends, or
getting sick, even dying, everyone wants
to see an end to the pandemic.
But with cases of Covid infections still
in the millions, and doctors warning
about new variants of the disease, is
the pandemic really coming to an end?
In this programme, we'll be finding out
how pandemics end,
and, as usual, we'll be learning some
related vocabulary as well.
Of course, pandemics are nothing new.
Ancient texts are full of stories
of plagues which spread
death and disease before
eventually going away.
In the Middle Ages, The Black Death that
killed over half of Europe's population
lasted for four years.
It's only with modern
vaccines that diseases
have been eradicated - completely ended.
So, Neil, my question this week is:
which disease was eradicated in 1977?
Was it: a) cholera, b) polio,
or c) smallpox?
I'm going to say c) small pox.
OK, I'll reveal the answer
at the end of the program.
Of course, the idea that
the pandemic might not
be ending isn't something
people want to hear.
Most people are sick of
worrying about Covid and
can't wait for things
to get back to normal.
But as Yale University physician,
Professor Nicholas Christakis,
explained to BBC World Service
programme, The Inquiry, it's not
just the biological disease that needs to
end - pandemics have a social ending too.
Pandemics are not just
a biological phenomenon,
they're also a social
phenomenon, and they end socially.
And one of the ways that they
end socially is when
everyone just sort of
agrees that they have
ended - when everyone is
simply willing to tolerate more risk.
On other words, we sort of declare victory,
maybe prematurely, or
another way of thinking about it is,
we put our heads in the sand.
Biologically Covid still
exists in the world and
most of us would rather not catch it.
But if you're vaccinated, the
risk of getting seriously
ill is much lower, so it's reasonable to
make plans to resume normal life.
When enough people do this, we
declare victory - a phrase meaning to
announce something to be
finished before it
actually is, but when
it looks 'good enough'.
The danger is that we declare victory
prematurely - too soon, before it's the best
time to do so.
Professor Christakis uses another idiom
for this - to bury your head in the
sand, meaning to deliberately refuse
to accept the truth about something you
find unpleasant.
It's also true that pandemics do not end in
the same way for everyone, everywhere.
Rich western countries
with the resources to vaccinate their
populations are in a
better position than most.
Professor Dora Vargha is an expert on the
history of medicine.
She compares the Covid
pandemic to an ongoing
disease for which we
have no cure, and which
has killed millions since
its outbreak in the 1980s - HIV/Aids.
Here is Professor Vargha,
speaking with BBC World Service's, The Inquiry.
What happens in the case of HIV/Aids is that it
became from being an
immediate death sentence
basically to a manageable
chronic disease... but that happens in
societies that have the means and
the infrastructure to make
that possible with medication, and that is
not necessarily true for all parts of the
world, but we don't
think about the HIV/Aids
pandemic as an ongoing pandemic.
Although HIV has no cure,
modern medical drugs
allow people to continue
living with the disease for years.
HIV is no longer a death sentence - a phrase
meaning the punishment of
death for committing a
crime, or from an incurable disease.
Nowadays, HIV is no longer fatal.
It has become a disease which can be
controlled and is chronic, or long lasting.
We no longer think of Aids as a pandemic,
but that's not true everywhere - only
in countries which can provide the necessary
medical drugs and support.
Finding the right balance
of Covid restrictions
for communities of people
exhausted by the pandemic isn't easy.
Many scientists are warning that we
haven't yet reached the beginning of the end
of Covid, but hopefully
we're at least reaching
the end of the beginning.
Let's finish the programme on a hopeful note
by remembering that diseases
can and do eventually end - like in your
quiz question, Sam.
Yes, I asked which disease was eradicated in 1977.
Neil said it was smallpox, which was
the correct answer! Well done, Neil!
Smallpox no longer occurs naturally, but
did you know that samples of smallpox
do still exist, frozen in American and Soviet
laboratories during the Cold War!
As if the thought that
the Covid pandemic might
never end isn't scary enough!
Right, let's recap the vocabulary we've
learnt starting with eradicate - to completely
get rid of something, such as a disease.
If you declare victory,
you announce something
to be finished before it actually is.
The danger is doing this is that
you announce it prematurely, or too soon.
The idiom ;bury your head
in the sand' means to
refuse to accept or look
at a situation you don't like.
A death sentence means the
punishment of death for
committing a crime, or
from an incurable disease.
And finally, a chronic
disease is one which lasts for a long time.
Even though the pandemic hasn't
ended, our programme has
because our six minutes are up.
Bye for now!
Bye!