It's not *possible* to eradicate COVID-19 with our current technology.

I want it gone as much as anyone else, but it's reservoiring in deer in the U.S., and probably in other creatures elsewhere.

That's the issue. We *can't* eradicate it any more than we can eradicate influenza. It's not possible.

Now, we can work on better vaccines. Nasal vaccines might prevent infection. We can work on treating long COVID (which, btw, is not one thing, it's multiple things. One piece of good news on that front is that we may have a vaccine against EBV/mono in the near future). We can continue to wear masks situationally.

And I'm a UBI proponent all the way.

As for testing, the best way to track new variants is not testing people who have a cold. There is a far more efficient way to do it and if we could get that surveillance to 100% everyone would be much better off.

The answer is wastewater surveillance for ALL significant respiratory diseases. Which we're working on, it's taking time, but it's getting there. It's relatively cheap and spots a surge long before testing individuals do (a week or two).

But COVID is going to be endemic. There's no preventing that and likely there never was. We have to get and keep as many people vaccinated as possible, have masks handy for when we need them and start building a society where people can, for example, afford to stay home when sick.