Omicron and living with COVID: Why the new variant might change the timeline

COVID-19 will be endemic when it still circulates, but no longer has the steep waves of outbreaks that hammer hospital capacity and force society to adapt, doctors say.

The Omicron variant is causing the virus to spread fast, and experts say that could speed up the timeline for COVID-19 to shift from a major health crisis to something we live with on a regular basis.

The concept is known as “endemicity,” and it refers to a time when a circulating virus no longer has the steep waves of outbreaks that hammer hospital capacity and force society to adapt, according to doctors. Instead, an endemic virus continues to circulate through our population — but in a way we can handle, like the flu.

“COVID won’t leave this planet. This thing is here to stay for a prolonged period of time,” said Dr. Peter Jüni, scientific director of Ontario’s COVID-10 Science Advisory Table.

“It’s here to stay, but with us developing more and more immunity, it will become more and more manageable over time.”

Here’s what we know about how — and when — COVID will become more manageable.

COVID’s shift into endemicity won’t be like flipping a switch, Jüni said. Rather, there “will be a transition phase.”

As Canadians await that transition phase, there are some signals of endemicity we can watch for, according to infectious disease specialist Dr. Gerald Evans.

“It won’t be a black-and-white thing, but what we’re going to see is…that these pandemic waves tend to disappear,” Evans said.