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Coronavirus started as an epidemic — a disease affecting a large number of people within a community, population or region — in Wuhan, China. As coronavirus spread worldwide, it became a pandemic.

Today, experts are contemplating whether, and when, COVID-19 should be classified as endemic – a virus typical of a particular country, in this case, almost all countries.

The World Health Organization (WHO) thinks it’s possible. Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO’s director-general, said “this virus may become just another endemic virus in our communities and this virus may never go away.”

That’s a bracing statement, at least until you consider the history of a few well-known diseases.  Malaria is an endemic disease in African countries. Dengue Fever is endemic in South America. Asia is one permanent home for Chikungunya, a viral disease transmitted to humans by infected mosquitoes.

These endemic diseases are known risks to travelers. Travel protection services, government agencies, and health organizations list them in destination reports, and recommend immunizations for visitors.

U.S. Department of State travel advisories also include a list of endemic diseases in the health section. Thailand, for example, has the following diseases present: Dengue, Chikungunya, Japanese encephalitis, Zika, Tuberculosis, Influenza, Malaria, Rabies, Cholera, Hepatitis A and B, HIV/AIDS, Typhoid and Melioidosis.

Travelers know there is Ebola in Africa. It never went away — it is always a background travel risk.

Will coronavirus continue to exist in society for years just as other viruses have? Researchers, scientists, doctors and pharmaceutical companies are currently tracking reinfection time, COVID-19 competition with other viruses, for example, influenza, and seasonal differences in transmissibility to determine an answer.

A recent study published in Science magazine from Columbia University researchers believe it is a little too early to call coronavirus endemic. “A critical concern has been whether humans will experience reinfections with this pathogen, which might enable it to become endemic.”

Vaccines will play a role in determining coronavirus’ classification of a pandemic or endemic. It could, like an annual flu shot, reduce cases each year or, as with the smallpox vaccine, eradicate the virus.

Classification from “pandemic” to “endemic” doesn’t mean travelers should toss their masks and skip the hand sanitizer. Coronavirus needs more investigation, tracking, research, education, and awareness before it becomes a run-of-the-mill travel risk.

Travelers will need back up plans for a whole host of risks. COVID-19 is another risk in the mix. As a former tour operator, I know risks are everywhere, but they are not always top of mind for travelers.

A rafting company operating in an Africa country lists risks in their policies, including capsizing in moving water. But as important are Ebola, Malaria and other diseases endemic to the area, background risks that travelers need to understand.

Pre-trip research is more important now than ever.

Jim Sano is the former president of Geographic Expeditions, a Yosemite Park Ranger, and senior advisor for Global Rescue, the world’s leading provider of medical, security, evacuation and travel risk management services to enterprises, governments and individuals