Opinion: The pandemic is in a twilight zone. Enjoy it — but stay safe.

The pandemic has entered a twilight zone, neither causing major disruption to the nation nor vanishing. Everyone is looking forward to a summer without masks or terrifying case spikes. The government has dropped the requirement that international air travelers test before entering the United States. We have vaccines, antivirals and diagnostic tests in surplus. So far, so good. But there is still a nagging uncertainty, one that is not trivial. The biggest unknown is whether new variants will evolve. Omicron was an example of how mutation can deliver an unpleasant one-two punch. It could happen again.