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The studies under the NIH initiative are expected to provide insights over the coming months, the agency says. A number of other research efforts focused on the phenomenon are also underway.

5. WE CAN EXPECT TO SEE MORE VARIANTS If you haven’t already done so, now is the time to bone up on the Greek alphabet, because you’re only going to be hearing more of it over the next

year. Piltch-Loeb says that new variants of the coronavirus are “definitely” expected in 2022. “The reality is that variants continue to emerge as the virus continues to spread,” she says.

And with less than half of the global population fully vaccinated against COVID-19, its spread is expected to continue, especially with omicron in the picture. The promise of new variants,

however, doesn’t guarantee new dangers. Unlike delta, some strains have emerged and fizzled out. The big question is whether any new variants will be able to evade the current suite of COVID

vaccines, treatments and testing capabilities, or cause more severe illness among those who get infected. Delta and omicron have had some compromising effects on these tools but haven’t

rendered them ineffective so far.   To keep the virus from “becoming a more aggressive and menacing pathogen,” Thomas Denny, chief operating officer of the Duke Human Vaccine Institute,

says, “we have to use every resource and every tool we have to suppress it.” That includes getting vaccinated and boosted, wearing a mask in public and steering clear of crowded situations.

“Hopefully, we’ll get another generation of vaccines … that will prevent even transmission of the virus or certainly not require us to have so frequent level of boosting. Until then, we’re

going to have to remain on guard and utilize good, sensible public health prevention techniques,” Denny says. FLEXIBILITY REMAINS KEY AS WE ENTER ANOTHER YEAR One of the greatest

challenges that has emerged during the pandemic has been “coping with the uncertainty that comes from tracking an evolving virus,” Piltch-Loeb says. But maintaining a sense of flexibility

— be it around new vaccine recommendations or masking guidelines — is critical as we try to fight our way back to normal. “This has been an ongoing response to an evolving scientific

situation and will continue to be that, a little bit, for some time to come,” Piltch-Loeb adds. Eventually, experts predict that COVID will reach a more manageable state, like the seasonal

flu. In order to get to that point, though, Houston Methodist’s Drews says we need to see a dramatic decline in cases, hospitalizations and deaths. Community transmission rates also need

to drop, and immunity from vaccination or infection needs to rise. “And when all of those things occur, then we would really reach an endemic [state], rather than epidemic or pandemic

state,” she says. Why 2022 Could Be the Year We Say Goodbye to COVID-19 _Editor's Note: This story, originally published on Dec. 21, 2021, has been updated to reflect new information._

_Rachel Nania writes about health care and health policy for AARP. Previously she was a reporter and editor for WTOP Radio in Washington, D.C. A recipient of a Gracie Award and a regional

Edward R. Murrow Award, she also participated in a dementia fellowship with the National Press Foundation._