Although COVID-19 is no longer classified as a pandemic, variants of SARS-CoV-2 continue to arise. It is critical to understand how changes in viral characteristics, public policy, and behavior affect disease load and mortality. An analysis by Otto et al. (2024) shows that changes in transmission rate and immunological properties have differing effects on disease load, even among variants with similar selective advantages. The impact of various strategies aimed at countering disease spread is also analyzed.