I think science should be limited to scientists, and this is a good example. I am not a researcher but I know enough to know what I do not know. People saying that this "virus mutates quickly" is not only wrong but makes it scarier than it is.
Every virus mutates when it is in a new host. A variant is created when that mutation confers some survival benefit.
But COVID actually mutates MUCH SLOWER than influenza!!!!
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33064680/
"Both viruses depend on a viral RNA polymerase to express their proteins, but only SARS-CoV-2 has a proofreading mechanism, which results in a low mutation rate compared to influenza."
https://www.astrazeneca.com/what-science-can-do/topics/disea...
"The average mutation rate of SARS-CoV-2 remains low and steady, and is much slower than other RNA viruses such as influenza viruses. Unlike coronaviruses, influenza viruses (which cause the flu) are prone to changes through processes called antigenic drift and antigenic shift.3,4"
The only thing that makes SARS2 a bigger problem that the flu is the R value, or how fast it spreads. Flu is between R1 and R2, while Delta was between R5 and R7.
So the issue is not one of mutations, but of spread. Vaccines do not stop the spread and that is a problem. Even when vaccinates you have no symptoms but you will catch the virus and create mutations.
A total worldwide lockdown, IMO, would have stopped this dead because of the low mutation rate. But unfortunately governments favored the economy over lives. And I also blame Fauci and Trump for not making enough N95 masks and Fauci actually discouraging their use in the beginning.
At this point it is with us forever since wildlife will continue to spread it. Eventually it will settle to a place where it kills X amount of people and we will be OK with it as we have become OK with the flu killing 30,000 to 70,000 people a year.