I'm not sure if the increase in hospitalisations will necessarily be permanent. We know that a lot of the common cold viruses are basically harmless in children

I'm not sure if the increase in hospitalisations will necessarily be permanent. We know that a lot of the common cold viruses are basically harmless in children, but can cause quite serious illness in previously unexposed adults. Because everyone catches them as children (when the immune system is particularly primed for dealing with new viruses), they're not a big deal. It seems likely (based on the fact that we're living with hundreds of "cold" viruses, all of which are relatively benign) that covid will take the same path - eventually. The problem is the bit before that, where everyone gets exposed to a never-before-seen pathogen. I agree though - until we get to a point where everyone has been exposed or vaccinated, there's going to be a continuous stream of bad covid cases.