Omicron might be less likely than Delta to land people in the hospital, but they can’t select which version of the virus they’ll get, or whom they’ll spread it to. Gommerman also worries about the burden of post-Omicron long COVID, a concern that researchers don’t yet have a good handle on. Ultimately, this virus will likely infect nearly all of us. That doesn’t mean it has to infect nearly all of us right now.