Omicron variant rewrites the Covid-19 pandemic plan for 2022

Even after Covid becomes a more endemic disease, new variants will spawn outbreaks and seasonal surges for years to come

As the Omicron variant gains momentum in Europe and the United States, scientists are rewriting their expectations for the Covid-19 pandemic next year.

Just weeks ago, disease experts were predicting that countries would begin to emerge from the pandemic in 2022 after enduring a series of surges driven by the Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Delta variants. First among them would be populations with a significant amount of exposure to the coronavirus, through a combination of infections and vaccination.

In those places, COVID was expected to ease into an endemic disease, hopefully with less-severe periodic or seasonal outbreaks. Vaccines, available for much of