CHICAGO — Nearly 200 million people are now fully vaccinated with more than 30 million having received a booster shot. With lower infection rates, mask mandates remain. Some are asking whether we’re nearing the end of the pandemic. The answer to that is complex.

While most would agree, the worst of the outbreak is over. Experts say it’s unlikely COVID-19 will ever completely disappear.

“If we vaccinated every single person, we could probably get rid of this thing, get it down to a dull roar. That's never going to happen,” said Dr. Robert Murphy, executive director of the Institute for Global Health at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine.

That means that life beyond the pandemic won’t quite be the same as before it.

“For vaccinated individuals, they are a lot closer to being able to treat this pandemic like it's just an endemic problem that is going to come up every year and they just need to get their booster and be careful,” said Dr. Emily Landon, an infectious disease specialist at the University of Chicago Medicine. “For unvaccinated individuals, they're still at extremely high risk of very bad infection.”

According to the CDC right now, about 42% of the entire U.S. population is not fully vaccinated. More than 30 million people – about 15%— of those who are fully vaccinated have already gotten a booster.

But there are more tools in the toolbox: monoclonal antibodies, two promising antiviral drugs that have applied for emergency use authorization, and millions of children are now eligible for vaccination.

The current seven-day moving average of daily new cases dropped by 1.4% from the previous week to just over 70,000.

“I look at the bumps on the curve, the United States is going into the fifth wave right now,” said Murphy.

This winter, with less moisture in the air, concentrated indoor aerosols mean everyone in the northern hemisphere will be more vulnerable to infection.

“We're going to see a bump,” said Landon. “We're already seeing a bump in the northern part of the country. How big that bump is going to be is going to depend a lot based on your community and the outbreaks are going to be very localized.”

And while we could expect to see lower levels of transmission year-round, it's not likely to ever go out of season.

“It's not seasonal. Seasons may impact it, but we had a spike in August. That's crazy. It's all about behavior and the delta variant, and the virus has changed. It's much more contagious,” said Murphy.

Some experts say no matter the transmission rates, masks will need to remain in use in certain situations indefinitely.

“The time when we're going to be able to stop wearing masks when people stop worrying about them as some sort of punishment and stop making them into something bigger than they are,” said Landon.

And while some believe we could be turning the corner, just how long this pandemic will last is uncertain.

“Some of the pandemics have lasted five or 10 years,” said Murphy. “We don't know how long this one is going to last. Usually, they just kind of mysteriously disappeared.”

Unfortunately, Dr. Murphy says that may be wishful thinking.

With COVID-19 restrictions on the verge of being loosened, if not dropped altogether – not everyone is ready to head back into the crowded spaces we all remember from pre-pandemic life, with or without a mask.

While some are celebrating the return to some semblance of normalcy, anxiety is being stoked in others. Mental health experts are calling the phenomenon ‘re-entry anxiety,’ and it’s affecting people from the the White House all the way to your house.

“Yesterday, as soon as the guidelines came out, we got a note that came across our emails that says you don’t need to wear masks here anymore,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said.

But some people are saying being in large crowds after a year of isolation isn’t everyone’s ideal situation.

“It makes so much sense that our bodies and our minds are telling us ‘no.’” clinical psychologist Dr. Ashley Soloman said.

She said if the idea of returning to pre-pandemic life worries you, you’re not alone.

“I’ve seen so many people over this past year with COVID anxiety that was new to them as well as people who have perhaps struggled with anxiety in different points in their lives and it was extremely exacerbated by the pandemic,” Soloman said.

She said it’s important to start with small steps – a little league game over a MLB game played in a large stadium, short trips over flights, Airbnb’s over crowded hotels.

“Don’t feel like you have to go to a crowded stadium or concert as the first time that you’re reentering public life,” Soloman said.

She stresses the importance of being patient with others feeling more or less caution than you.

“I think it’s really important that we’re honest with each other about how we’re feeling and our comfort level in reengaging in our more social lives,” Soloman said.

And while restrictions are expiring, the pandemic’s effects are here to stay.

“The mental health issues that have come out during COVID are really not going anywhere,” Solomon said. “They’re really going to persist.”

She said if you’re venturing into a crowded space for the first time in months, you may want to do so with a partner – that way you have someone to confide in if you get overwhelmed.