How does a pandemic end?

NEW YORK - The coronavirus pandemic will not come to a quick end.

"We've had a lot of people die in just four months," said Dr. Danielle Ompad, an NYU infectious disease epidemiologist.

Thankfully, the numbers are decreasing, but when will the COVID-19 pandemic be over?

"I don't know what's going to happen with COVID," said Naomi Rogers, a professor of the history of medicine at Yale University.

Rogers said she doesn't know if COVID-19 will ever be over or done but it could eventually be controlled with effective treatments and a vaccine. Until then, without social distancing and wearing masks, she said, "I do think that we're going to have a much more robust conversation about what kinds of cases and also deaths we as a society are comfortable with."

The Spanish flu of 1918 seemed to fade away after wiping out the most vulnerable. Others developed an immunity. 

The AIDS crisis ended with effective treatments.

"The argument very early on in the '80s was, 'Don't worry, we'll have a vaccine,'" Rogers said. "That's been more than 30 years ago and no, we don't have a vaccine. And yet we have developed really good ways of handling AIDS."

As for COVID-19, personal behavior and the concern for others will continue to play a critical role.

"If we don't wear masks and stay away from each other for the new future until we have something effective to treat and prevent this disease, more people are going to die, quite frankly," Ompad said.