Goodbye to COVID-19 pandemic? When? It has been thought that, at some point, the pandemic will be over. And the world will then go “back to normal.” This thinking, however, is flawed.Some experts say the coronavirus — like the viruses behind polio, measles and the fly — is likely to be a “permanent” one. Meaning, it’s not going away. One scenario is that it may turn into a seasonal flu, less deadly, but would still claim some lives. And like the flu virus, which still mutates with every season, the coronavirus has demonstrated that — given its known mutations — the virus is able to mount a cat-and-mouse game with vaccines.