I see it as being over when it becomes a predictable threat we manage without disruption.

"Pandemic" in the epidemiological sense may include a lot of diseases we are used to, including most of the viruses that cause the common cold.

COVID is going to join that mess, but it's going to become less dangerous with population resistance, more predictable, and ultimately something we only worry about getting vaccinated against.

I suspect it will remain a threat to the extremely elderly and frail and we should use this as a reminder to be careful around those people and, for example, don't visit grandma in the care home when we're sick.

For me it will be over when I'm not worried about eating in a restaurant, which I still am...although I'm unlikely to end up in the hospital, I know people of my age and health who have been laid up for a week or two with it and I don't get paid sick time.

Also, there are going to be situations in which I WILL mask forever. Any time I might be sick, and in healthcare settings. And possibly in March because masks do a good job of keeping out pollen!