Article révisé par les pairs
Résumé : Background: Since the beginning of the pandemic, Covid-19 has been regarded as an exceptional disease. Control measures have exclusively focused on "the virus", failing to account for other biological and social factors that determine severe forms of the disease.Aim: We argue that if it is understandable that Covid-19 was initially considered a form of exceptionalism, justifying extraordinary response measures, this situation has changed – and so should our response.Main arguments: We now know that Covid-19 shares many features of common infectious respiratory diseases, and better understand that SARS-CoV-2 has not invented new problems out of the blue. Instead, it has unveiled and exacerbated existing problems in health systems and underlying population health. Of course, Covid-19 is not an extra-terrestrial disease. It is a complex zoonotic disease, and it needs to be managed as such, following long proven principles of medicine and public health.Conclusion: A complex disease cannot be solved through a simple, magic bullet cure or vaccine. The heterogeneity of population profiles susceptible to develop a severe form of Covid-19 suggests adopting varying, targeted measures, enabled to reach risk profiles in an appropriate way. The critical role of comorbidities in disease severity calls for complementing short-term virus-targeted interventions with medium-term policies aimed at reducing the burden of comorbidities, as well as mitigating the risk of "transition" from infection to disease. Complementary strategies are needed including upstream prevention, early treatment, and the consolidation of the health system.

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