“The virus has established itself in the human population and it’s not going anywhere,” infectious disease expert Amesh Adalja told CNN. “We’re going to see a lot of transmission until we cross the threshold for herd immunity.”

But also, the Covid-19 variant first identified in the UK is spreading across the US and experts have warned that while it does not appear to be more deadly, it is more easily transmittable and will lead to even more infections.

More than 120 cases of the variant have been identified across 20 states, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And the agency warned last week a model trajectory of the variant in the US “exhibits rapid growth in early 2021.”

“In some ways, it’s much worse that it is more contagious because it will infect many, many more people and unfortunately probably will end up killing more people,” Dr. Ashish Jha, dean of the Brown University School of Public Health, told CNN Monday night.