We may have to learn to live with COVID-19 variants, experts say

Delta, beta, alpha, lambda, kappa, iota: As of August 2021, the human race now harbors a veritable fraternity row of coronavirus variants.

"Rather than getting bogged down in nomenclature and where they are, we should assume that any variant that emerges in one place will appear everywhere," said Dr. Bruce Polsky, the chairman of NYU Langone Hospital Long Island's Department of Medicine.

Polsky, an infectious disease specialist, confirmed the variant of most concern to us in this country right now remains the very contagious delta variant, which accounts for 93% of new cases in the United States. Polski said what we know about delta likely applies to the delta plus variant identified in South Korea and named for a more minor alteration in the genetics of the virus not significant enough to classify it as a completely different variant.

RELATED: How delta plus variant differs from other strains

"I think the implications of delta plus are very similar to delta," Polsky said.

Meanwhile, lambda spreads through South America, and Polsky expects new variants to continue to emerge and spread all over this planet until we can significantly reduce the number of places this coronavirus can live.

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"Variants only arise when the virus is actively replicating," Polsky said.

And the virus only replicates inside humans and some animals. Vaccines continue to prove the best defense against that replication but to eradicate this coronavirus completely, not only would the United States need to vaccinate the vast majority of the 130 million or so fully unvaccinated Americans but also the rest of the mostly vaccine-poor planet would need to get vaccinated as well.

RELATED: What to know about the lambda variant

"I think that most experts would tell you that eradication is not something that is going to be feasible at this point," Polsky said.

And so we must learn to coexist, masking up in the short term, vaccinating probably somewhat regularly forever, and working to develop medicine to combat COVID infections.

"This virus will be with us indefinitely in some way, shape, or form," Polsky said. "We're just going to have to learn to live with it successfully."