That seems bad. I think one possible worse case new variant (aside from one that kills better) would be one that causes no deaths and just gives everyone long

That seems bad. I think one possible worse case new variant (aside from one that kills better) would be one that causes no deaths and just gives everyone long covid while evading vaccines and prior infection. The US government would not do anything about it because it does not kill anyone, so the entire labor force would be decimated.