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Indeed, while the XEC variant appears to cause less severe disease, we cannot be certain that more serious variants will not emerge in the future.
Despite these indications, experts still recommend that vulnerable groups get the most recent COVID-19 vaccine.
Indeed, vaccinations continue to provide important protection against serious illness, hospitalization, and death.
Indeed, according to what happened in the case of historical coronavirus outbreaks, we can expect a less invasive disease, and fewer cases of long COVID, as the population immunity improves.
Furthermore, although there appears to be a downward trend in the number of serious illnesses due to COVID-19, we cannot be sure what will happen in the future.
If this is the case, experts predict that the disease will continue to get progressively milder, until it closely resembles the common cold.
The second possibility for why people are becoming less sick with COVID-19 is that the disease itself has settled into a rut.
According to Chin-Hong, this makes sense when we look at how coronaviruses evolved in the past.
According to Chin-Hong, the fact that new cases of long COVID are also falling is a good indication that this is what is happening.
Similarly, the risk of developing long COVID has not completely gone away, and for some people the condition can last years.
Sources: (BBC)
See also: The signs and symptoms of long Covid
Experts therefore recommend people continue to exercise caution and not consider that the threat from COVID-19 is over.
The first is that people have now been infected with, and vaccinated against, COVID-19 so many times that they have developed a powerful immune memory.
As a result, any new COVID-19 infections are quickly removed from the body before they have time to penetrate deeper and cause serious disease.
The purpose of these treatments was to lower the chance of clotting, but today this is no longer considered necessary.
Long COVID is triggered by an aberrant immune response, and if the virus is not sticking around for so long there is less chance of the response being triggered.
The use of strong steroids, such as dexamethasone, rather than antivirals is also becoming increasingly less common.
According to Peter Chin-Hong, a professor in the Health Division of Infectious Diseases at UC San Francisco, there are two possible explanations for why COVID-19 may be getting milder.
For example, in the past, anticoagulants or blood thinning medications were immediately administered upon the patient’s arrival.
Even when COVID-19 patients are admitted to hospital, treatment protocols also seem to suggest that the disease is becoming less serious.
Immunocompromised people are still particularly vulnerable; however, experts now believe that the main risk factor for becoming seriously ill with COVID-19 is being older than 75.
There are certainly some good indications that COVID-19 is a less serious disease than it once was.
For instance, the once common loss of taste and smell as a symptom of COVID-19 is becoming increasingly less frequent.
Given that the XEC variant certainly was infecting people, experts began to wonder whether COVID-19 is simply becoming more mild as a disease.
Indeed, while steroids are still used to treat very severe cases of COVID-19, resorting to using them is now the exception rather than the rule.
Everything pointed towards a dangerous variant that would easily be able to evade the immune protection offered by vaccines or exposure to previous variants.
Despite doctors’ concerns, however, there was no surge in hospitalizations. In fact, in December 2024 hospitalizations in the US were down by two thirds versus December 2023.
Research showed that XEC had arisen through recombination, a process whereby two previous variants had merged their genetic material.
When the most recent variant of COVID-19, XEC, started to become dominant in the autumn of 2024, doctors began to prepare themselves for a rise in hospitalizations.
In fact, many people are now experiencing a cold so mild that the symptoms could easily be mistaken as the result of a seasonal allergy.
Furthermore, although some people are still being hospitalized due to a COVID-19 infection, the vast majority are either asymptomatic or experience very mild symptoms.
As the newest COVID-19 variant XEC started to spread in the autumn of 2024, health experts around the world braced themselves for another tough winter of COVID-19 hospitalizations. But despite data that shows the variant is spreading, the surge in hospitalizations did not occur as doctors feared. According to experts, this is just one in a number of indications that COVID-19 could be getting more mild as a disease. Could it be?
Check out this gallery to learn more.
Why COVID-19 appears to be getting more mild
Is the pesky virus on its way out?
HEALTH Virus
As the newest COVID-19 variant XEC started to spread in the autumn of 2024, health experts around the world braced themselves for another tough winter of COVID-19 hospitalizations. But despite data that shows the variant is spreading, the surge in hospitalizations did not occur as doctors feared. According to experts, this is just one in a number of indications that COVID-19 could be getting more mild as a disease. Could it be?
Check out this gallery to learn more.