Stephen Parodi, MD, discusses pandemic shift to endemic with AMA COVID-19 Update

In a recent episode of the American Medical Association’s video COVID-19 Update, Stephen Parodi, MD, associate executive director of The Permanente Medical Group, discussed the factors that signal a shift from pandemic to endemic.

Dr. Parodi, who also serves as a national infectious disease leader for Kaiser Permanente, spoke with host Todd Unger about the medical and scientific advancements in addressing coronavirus, the challenges that remain, and how health systems can prepare for the shift.

Dr. Parodi described the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s recent guidance as a step in the right direction. “Measuring based on hospitalizations and the number of people … populating intensive care units related to COVID-19” is relevant because of the effectiveness that public health officials are seeing with vaccines, he explained.

As for the role health systems can play as the COVID-19 pandemic shifts to an endemic phase, Dr. Parodi highlighted 2 major opportunities. First, he said messaging about what “endemic” means is important, because health systems and individual physicians have a responsibility to counter misinformation about isolation, quarantine, testing, and therapeutics and vaccination. Second, physician voices must be amplified to affect change, he said, and policymakers need to hear from physicians as they work on issues such as vaccination requirements, mask mandates, and surveillance testing.

Groups that shape public policies such as the American Medical Association and state medical associations are “another place where we can have tremendous influence,” Dr. Parodi said.

Note: Watch the full interview on the AMA website.