Author Description

Second waves, third waves, never ending waves – as the world is about to enter the second year of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, people realize that they are just at the beginning of a global health and economic crisis. In the Northern Hemisphere, the 6 dark autumn and winter months have begun and the world is holding its breath: will the new coronavirus follow the track of the 1918 flu epidemic, relatively mild in spring and devastating in autumn and winter? There is no doubt that the immense resources of medicine and biotechnology will soon produce a safe and effective vaccine; however, only fools expect mass vaccinations before the middle of 2021 and a measurable impact on the pandemic before 2022. In the meantime, people around the globe will reduce their contacts with other people and perfect their skills of social distancing. They will continue to wear face masks next year, the year after and maybe beyond. It isn’t fun but it must be done.