Here’s How the COVID-19 Pandemic could Play Out over the Next Two Years
A new report outlines three potential scenarios for how the COVID-19 pandemic could unfold.
By Rachael Rettner | Senior Writer

LIVE SCIENCE – May 8, 2020 | Although no one yet knows what the future holds for COVID-19, most experts seem to agree that it isn’t going away anytime soon. Indeed, a new report estimates that the pandemic will likely last about two years.

People sit on designated areas to ensure social distancing inside a light rapid transit train in Palembang, Indonesia, on March 20, 2020, amid concerns of the COVID-19 pandemic.
(Image: © ABDUL QODIR/AFP via Getty Images)

The report, from researchers at the University of Minnesota, draws on information from eight previous flu pandemics going back to the 1700s, and incorporates data from the current COVID-19 pandemic.

The authors note that the new coronavirus, called SARS-CoV-2, is not a type of influenza, but it shares some similarities with pandemic flu viruses — both are respiratory viruses to which the population has little to no previous immunity, and both can spread when people don’t have symptoms. Still, the virus causing COVID-19 appears to spread more easily than the flu, and asymptomatic transmission may account for a greater proportion of COVID-19′s spread, compared with the flu.

Please do read the COVID-19 CIDRAP Report.