54 TIME January 31/February 7, 2022
Other countries that have adopted zero-
COVID strategies, including Australia and New
Zealand, were forced to abandon them over the
summer and fall. The Delta variant crushed these
nations’ eff orts to stay on top of cases, and lock-
downs became socially unbearable and detri-
mental to people’s mental health. In accepting
that it may not be possible to eliminate SARS-
CoV-2, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison
said it was time to “come out of the cave.” His ad-
mission acknowledged that while vaccines pro-
vide protection, they can’t prevent people from
getting infected, so cases are inevitable. The goal
is to prevent people who become infected from
getting seriously ill or needing hospitalization.
The U.S., whether by intention or inaction,
never adopted the fortress mentality, instead
relying on vaccinating as much of the popula-
tion as quickly as possible and, more recently,
encouraging more widespread testing so peo-
ple who are positive can take the proper safety
precautions and avoid public interactions.
While cases have skyrocketed in the U.S. since
Omicron emerged, some models predict that
the combination of immunity from the shots
and from natural infections will ultimately
throw up a formidable enough wall to relegate
signifi cant damage from COVID-19 to out-
breaks among the more vulnerable people, who
are either unvaccinated or have weakened im-
mune systems—at least that’s the hope.
“Countries are going to have to accept a pe-
riod of high transmission in communities,” says
Farrar. “And I think that is the path that China
will ultimately have to go through.”
For now, China’s aggressive approach to
COVID-19 may put it in a strong position to
host the Olympics as safely as can be expected.
But how the virus will ultimately perform there
throughout the Games—and after them—will be
the contest everyone watches most closely.