Understand, we're in the second epidemic and headed for the third. Plans made on the basis of the original virus may not be valid. "The enemy get a vote", as the military says.

The original virus had a R0 rate of about 3, that is, in normal conditions, each infected person infects three others. That's about what the first generation of vaccines could control well enough that eventually the virus would die out.

The delta variant has an R0 of about 8. The current vaccines can slow down the spread, but not stop it. Which is why we've had a second epidemic. By last August, delta variant cases were 90% of the cases seen.

We don't know enough about the omicron variant yet.