One alarming reason to worry about a new surge, even amid vaccines

While urging people to wear their masks, keep their distance and stay home if they can, experts warn against panic. Even non-fatal COVID can have long-term health effects for patients of all ages, but the current lineages aren’t all that deadly for the people who account for a greater and greater share of cases. The next lineage might be, though. And rest assured—there will be a next lineage. “Based on analyses of other antigenically evolving respiratory viruses such as influenza virus and CoV-229E, I expect SARS-CoV-2 will continue to evolve over the coming years,” Jesse Bloom, an investigator at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Washington State, told The Daily Beast. We won’t know until it shows up just how transmissible and deadly any new lineage is, and whether it might pull off a trick that the current major lineages haven’t been capable of so far. It might “evade” the vaccines. “This would spell trouble,” Michael said. If that happens, all bets are off. We’re back to square one, with no immunity to a nasty, fast-spreading virus. And worse, as a country we’ll still be tired of masks and social-distancing.