Preventing serious disease and death have been the most important goals since the very beginning, said Megan Ranney, academic dean at the Brown University School of Public Health, but the vaccines’ early success against infection may have inflated expectations.

“We are starting to see a shift among the folks who take COVID seriously and I think it’s an uncomfortable shift for many,” she told Axios.

A combination of vaccines, testing and higher-quality masks are helping low-risk Americans safely engage with the world around them…

“Where I hope we’re going is a recognition that these surges will happen, we’re going to do what we can to protect ourselves and our families … with an acceptance that in some shape or form, COVID is going to be part of our lives and we have to have strategies to deal with it,” Ranney said.