A US study predicts that SARS-CoV-2 could eventually become no more infectious than the common cold, seasonally reappearing each year alongside other pathogens in the coronavirus family that bring about mild sniffles. 

But that will happen only when the coronavirus becomes endemic, according to the researchers from Emory University in Georgia and Penn State University. 

“The timing of how long it takes to get to this sort of endemic state depends on how quickly the disease is spreading and how quickly vaccination is rolled out,” study lead author Jennie Lavine, a postdoctoral fellow at Emory University, told the New York Times. 

“So really, the name of the game is getting everyone exposed for the first time to the vaccine as quickly as possible.”